Phonics
Here you can find more information about our Phonics Curriculum.
Intent
Reading is a key life skill, and we strive to embed a culture of reading into the core of what we do. We teach systematic synthetic phonics to progressively build the skills required to decode text, to read fluently and show an understanding of what is being read. Our goal is for children to:
- work out unfamiliar words quickly.
- read high-frequency and familiar words speedily.
- read texts fluently.
We teach phonics using the Read, Write Inc programme (RWI).
Alongside developing the skills of reading, we strive to foster a lifelong love of reading by exposing our children to a wide range of meaningful literature across all curriculum areas, beyond the level at which children are able to access independently. We believe reading opens up a new world for children and gives them the opportunity to explore new ideas, visit new places, meet new characters and develop a better understanding of other cultures. Reading quality literature is implicitly interwoven into our curriculum, through the use of key texts, to expose our children to a wide-range of genres and famous authors, to enhance the exciting topics that we teach.
Implementation
We begin in the first weeks of Reception, by teaching children to read and blend single-letter sounds and then common digraphs (pairs of letters that make one sound, e.g. th, sh, ck, qu). Once children have learnt this skill, they start reading stories and texts that have words made up of the sounds they know. This means that they can embed and apply their phonic knowledge and start to build their reading fluency within the first terms of being at school. Once secure, children learn additional graphemes (groups of letters that make one sound, e.g. ea, igh, tion), to enable them to read increasingly more complex words and texts. Throughout this process there is a focus on comprehension, reading with expression and reading for enjoyment.
We recognise that every child learns at a different pace. Every 6 weeks, we assess children, so that they are taught in a small group which matches their phonic knowledge and reading ability, teaching them at their challenge point. This means that every child experiences success and continues to progress and gain confidence as a reader. Pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing phonic knowledge and ability to read exception words (words which do not follow the phonic rules that they have learnt).
Every week, each child takes home the book that they have read in their phonics sessions to share at home. This will be a book which they are able to read confidently, giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills at home and increase speed, fluency and intonation. In addition, they take a second book matched to the same level to further apply and develop their reading skills. We ask families at home to share these books with their children daily and to make comments in their child’s reading record.
Alongside explicit phonics teaching, children enjoy high-quality texts read by the teacher, to inspire their own writing and so that they can develop their understanding of literature.
Impact
By the end of Key Stage 1, we strive to ensure that all children have completed the RWI phonics programme, and are able to confidently and fluently read a wide range of texts and genres, demonstrating an understanding of what they have read.
Following our rigorous implementation of the RWI programme, children will confidently recall and remember the 60+ sounds and blend these sounds to accurately read a range of real words and non-words (which are used as an assessment tool). For any children struggling to make good progress, we plan and deliver additional interventions that children may require to continue to progress.
