Phonics
Learning to Read and Write
Phonics is the prim
ary approach that we use to teach your child how to read and write. Phonics links phonemes (sounds) and the graphemes (letter symbols) that represent them. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Phonics Scheme for our phonics lessons. Phonics is taught as a separate 20–30 minute lesson each day in Foundation Stage, Year 1 and Year 2.
When children begin school in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), they will begin to learn the routines for phonics lessons through joining in with nursery rhymes. As soon as the children are in school full time, they begin learning the first set of sounds: s, a, t, p. The children will practise saying the sounds correctly, identifying objects that have that initial sound, forming the letter in the air and on a whiteboard and lots of practice blending sounds into words e.g. p – a – t pat. Over the year in EYFS, the children will complete Phases 2, 3 and 4, becoming confident in reading and writing words with all the taught sounds.
As the children move into Year 1, they begin to learn the more advanced code of phonics in Phase 5. Over the year they will:
- Learn new graphemes for reading e.g. /ay/ makes the same sound as /ai/
- Learn alternative pronunciations for graphemes e.g. /i/ is pronounced differently in fin and find
- Learn alternative spellings e.g. the phoneme /j/ can be spelt g (as in giant) or dge (as in bridge)
- Learn to choose the appropriate graphemes when spelling and begin to build up word specific knowledge
The children will continue to apply and extend their phonics learning into Year 2 and beyond with a focus on spelling rules.
In addition to the daily phonics lessons in EYFS and Year 1, the children will participate in three group reading sessions a week. Each session focuses on a different reading skill of decoding (blending the sounds to read the words), prosody (reading with meaning and expression) and comprehension. In EYFS, the children will begin to learn reading skills with wordless books before moving on to decodable word books when they are able to blend to read words confidently.
