Phonics

Subject Leaders: Anna Ormsby

Intent of the Phonics Curriculum   

At Warren Mead we believe that phonics is the foundation of learning and provides children with the skills to develop into fluent and confident readers and writers. There is nothing more important than this as it allows a world of possibilities and academic success to be open to children so that they can believe and achieve anything they desire.  We passionately believe that with the right support that all children can and will learn to read. Phonics is taught discretely every day because we feel passionately about not compromising the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to become an effective reader.  Children are given every opportunity to apply their skills and understanding throughout the rest of our curriculum.  Phonics is taught through a sequence of sessions every day and children will be encouraged and supported to not only develop their decoding skills but also their comprehension and fluency skills.

Reading and writing do not stop at the end of a phonics session, a love of literature will be at the heart of all learning at Warren Mead.  Books and reading open up a whole host of learning opportunities and are the main driver for our extensive English curriculum (see the Reading and Writing Curriculum Intent documents for more details).

Implementation of the Phonics Curriculum

At Warren Mead we follow the Read Write Inc (RWI) phonics programme.  In RWI lessons children learn to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension.  They learn to form each letter, spell correctly and compose their ideas step-by-step. Throughout the programme, children learn the English alphabetic code: the 150+ graphemes that represent 44 speech sounds.  They rapidly learn sounds and the letter, or groups of letters, they need to represent them in three sets of Speed Sounds lessons.  Simple and enjoyable mnemonics help all children to grasp the letter-sound correspondence quickly.  This learning is taught and consolidated every day.  High frequency words that are not phonically regular are taught as Red Words and are practised frequently.   Phonics books are closely matched to children’s increasing knowledge of phonics and red words so that early on they experience plenty of success.  Re-reading the same book helps children to become confident readers. Each time they re-read, they build their fluency/speed and comprehension.  They love reading and want to read because they can read all the words in the book.  We set a focus for each re-read in school. The first read focuses on reading every word accurately. The second on reading the story more quickly. The third read on comprehension - understanding what they read. The  children take home the same book to read and enjoy with their parents. We do not send stories home the children cannot read because we always want them to be successful in their reading. We want to make sure they enjoy reading so that they want to read. The more they read, the faster progress they will make.

Children in the EYFS will begin their reading journey by following Letter and Sounds Phase 1 in Nursery and when appropriate will move to RWI. Children will take part in RWI sessions every morning with a fully trained member of staff. Every child will read a book matched to their phonic ability.  We have a variety of both story and non fiction texts and ensure children have access to both in each level they read.

We begin in Reception by teaching the children Set 1 sounds.  Children can start blending sounds into words as soon as they know a small group of letters well. Once the children have been taught the first 5 sounds (m, a, s, d, t), they are then taught to blend using the sounds that they know.  We start with blending oral sounds, then progress to reading the letters and blending them together to read the word.  When they can read all the Set 1 sounds speedily, they move onto Set 2 and 3 sounds. Children learn these sounds by a simple picture prompt linked to the sound, a short phrase to say e.g. may I play, and the letters that represent a sound e.g. ay.  Each sound has a list of green words linked to it, so that the children have the opportunity to practise the new sound they have been taught, for example, s-p-r-ay = spray. When learning Set 3 speed sounds the children will be taught alternative sounds/graphemes, e.g. ee as in tree and ea as in tea. As children build up their knowledge of sounds, they can apply their decoding skills to any unfamiliar word, whether it be real or nonsense.  Each day children will practice their decoding skills by sounding out nonsense words.  Children are unable to rely on existing knowledge of real words, and instead use their letter-sound knowledge. This is an important part of the Phonics Screening Check that the children complete at the end of year 1. The Phonics Screening Check is conducted each year in June. It is administered with each year 1 child as a way to assess their level of phonic knowledge and their ability to read unseen words based on the sounds they already know. The check consists of 40 unseen words which are divided into two sections. Both of these sections contain real words and nonsense words (words which have no meaning in the English language but are made up of sounds the child should be able to decode). The words within the Phonics Screening Check have a variety of structures but generally progress from simpler to more complex words.

Children who have successfully completed the RWI phonics programme move onto the whole class reading teaching model usually in the summer term.  However, identified Year 2 and KS2 children who still require further support with phonics, will continue to access RWI as a catch up programme.

Even with the best teaching, a few children can sometimes slip through the net: some have missed schooling; others find it hard to pay attention in a group; and a few have significant needs.  We provide targeted support through one-to-one tutoring, to address specific gaps in a child’s reading. It breaks down the phonics and reading strands of RWI into smaller steps to accelerate children’s reading progress. These short sessions are carried out by an experienced reading teacher every afternoon.   Some children will only need a few weeks’ tutoring. Others may need a term. Those with significant learning difficulties may need much longer.

 Impact of the Phonics Curriculum

At Warren Mead we are committed to all children becoming secure, confident and enthusiastic readers and writers.  Reading plays a fundamental role, not just in our curriculum but in setting children up for lifelong learning.  Due to a rigorous approach to the teaching of reading, children will be highly competent and confident readers who enjoy delving into a range of texts, books and genres.  Children develop detailed knowledge and skills in reading and as a result achieve well in the Year 1 Phonic Screening Check.