Phonics
Intent
Through Phonics, we intend to provide all children with the skills of segmenting and blending so they can decode any words they read. We aim for all children to develop a passion for learning new words and to be confident in applying their skills to build a rich vocabulary throughout their lives.
Implementation
From the time that pupils enter the school in Nursery and throughout their time in Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, they will have access to a wide range of songs, stories, rhymes and poems that stimulate discussion and excitement and encourage a love of language and the written word.
Following a long term plan assessment overview:
Nursery
Pupils:
- Will complete all stages of Phase 1 and will explore texts supported by the teacher and other staff members. By the end of the year, children who show they are ready will start to learn initial sounds from Phase 2 and be directed to appropriate texts to read.
- Will be assessed for any special educational needs that could impact on their learning. This will information will be in line with school policies and led by the school SENCO and other visiting professionals.
- A range of key fairy tales will be taught across the year.
Reception
Pupils:
- Will recap some skills from Phase 1 before starting to learn Phase 2 sounds in adult led Phonics sessions at least 4 times a week. Children will also get a chance to explore sounds in the environment through play activities.
- Adults will regularly share stories with the class highlighting (where possible) sounds that have been learnt.
- Will learn stories off by heart, with actions and through the use of puppets.
- Adults will shares appropriate texts in 1:1 or small group sessions
- A range of key fairy tales will be taught across the year- not repeating ones taught in Nursery.
- Enjoy stories written by a range of people, read by a range of people (Mystery Reader).
- Visit and make links with the local libarary.
- By the end of Reception, all children will have covered Phase 2 and 3 sounds. Some children may have moved onto Phase 4 sounds in the Summer Term.
- Half termly assessments on sounds covered in the phase will be conducted to identify children who may need additional support and interventions will be put in place, documented and discussed at pupil progress meetings.
- Relevant data will be collated and passed to the Year 1 teacher at the end of the school year with information on interventions that have taken place.
- Where possible, benchmarking will take place in the Summer Term.
Year 1
Pupils:
- Will have a chance to recap Phase 2 and 3 sounds in Autumn Term 1 to allow the class teacher to assess gaps in knowledge and plan activities and interventions accordingly.
- Daily Phonics lessons will be taught and children will have access to a range of phonics activities during guided reading sessions starting in Autumn Term 2.
- Phases 4 and 5 will be covered during the course of the year in order to prepare children to sit the Phonics Screening in June.
- Assessment of pupils' knowledge of the phases will be checked every half term against either a particular phase or a previous Phonics Screening.
- Targeted and documented interventions (such as additional Phonics/Reading sessions) will take place throughout the course of the year and discussed at pupil progress meetings.
- Quality texts will be shared via Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) scheme (in writing sessions), whole class books and guided reading sessions (Badger Reading Scheme).
- Children will be assessed on reading comprehension skills via benchmarking, at the start of Spring Term 1 and Summer Term 1. Some children may need to be reassessed at the end of the school year.
- Phonics homework should also be given on a weekly basis to help keep parents informed and support their child’s progress.
Year 2
Pupils:
- Will revise Phase 5 at the start of the school year before moving onto Phase 6 and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.
- Any child who needs to re-sit the Phonics Screening (because they did not pass in Year 1) will be given additional Phonics interventions as part of the guided reading schedule, on a 1:1 basis or by being part of a group covering a particular phase that is weakest.
- Children will be assessed on tricky words and common exception words regularly.
- Children will be exposed to high quality texts via English sessions (CLPE), Guided Reading sessions (Badger reading scheme), 1:1 banded books and a range of authors via author study.
- Pupils will be encouraged to borrow books from the class library and read alongside their banded books.
- Spelling new words will be regularly modelled by adults.
- Pupils will be assessed on their fluency and comprehension via a benchmarking scheme (3 times a year) and via a reading test paper (4 times a year).
- Pupils will be taught skills of prediction, sequencing, retrieval and inference and will build a bank of new words via spelling tests and topics, supported by use of a dictionary.
Impact
Through regular data collection, teachers will be able to see the impact of their teaching on the pupils. Data will also help to inform any interventions that may be needed and this will be guided by discussions with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) during termly pupil progress meetings. Any additional needs, such as external support or training will be highlighted through regular meetings with SLT and phase meetings. Useful and up to date information will be produced and shared with the next class teacher during teacher hand over at the end of the year and will be saved on the school server for others to access. The percentage of Year 1 pupils passing the Phonics Screening will be in line with or higher than the national average. Data will help to highlight pupils who are gifted and talented and in line to achieve a greater depth standard at the end of Key Stage 1.