Phonics and Spelling
Phonics at The Grange (see Phonics and Reading Policy)
To support the planning and delivery of phonics in school, we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) Scheme of work.
Sessions are taught daily for 30 minutes – 45 minutes 5 days a week. Phonics enhancement activities, poetry, singing and stories also play a big part in our daily timetable.
We strive to ensure that all children become fluent, confident readers and apply the sounds taught through Reda Writ Inc to all aspects of their learning so that they become highly-skilled readers.
We follow the Read Write Inc programme to build children's speaking and listening skills in their own right as well as to prepare children for learning to read by and write by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. Our approach in the teaching of phonics is interactive and multisensory, where all pupils are actively involved in the learning of new sounds. Supersonic Reda Write Inc is a fully systematic, synthetic programme for teaching phonics skills.
In its initial stages, successful spelling depends on good phonological awareness: children must have finely tuned listening skills. Practice is provided in a range of contexts such as music, dance and story. Children are exposed to rhyme, rhythm and alliteration, attuning their ears to listen carefully to the parts of a word. This stage of phonics begins in Foundation Stage and continues through Foundation Stage, Year 1 and Year 2, it is then revisited through spelling sessions or as interventions through Key Stage 2.
From Foundation Stage 1 the children are taught letter sounds (grapheme-phoneme correspondences) and how to use them to read and spell. They are also introduced to words which are not phonically regular (‘tricky words’) and learn that they must be able to recognise these on sight. We link the teaching and practising of letter shapes and patterns with the development of the pupil’s ability to listen to, and discriminate between the sounds that make up a word.
In the Summer Term of Year 1 the children will take part in the phonics screening check. This is taken individually by all children in Year 1 in England. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill. Please see the leaflet in the files section below for further information.
Phonics in Foundation Stage
The Foundation Stage phonic lessons provides a language rich environment that encourages and develops oracy and literacy skills that are the cornerstone to our curriculum. It is ensured that systematic synthetic phonics takes place daily using the Read Write Inc teaching. Children recognise, say and write phonemes within each Set 1 and 2 of the speed sounds phase 2-5. Using their phonic knowledge to blend and segment phonetically decodable words is a daily occurrence.
The children use their phonic knowledge to blend and segment phonetically decodable words. The use of their phonic knowledge to read complex words and to recognise from sight ‘Tricky Words/ Rotten Red Words’ (High Frequency Words) happens daily.
Our aim is for the children to write clearly, accurately, and coherently using their phonic knowledge. All children have a Read Write Inc book that they record their work in and write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to write, and composing word for word until they are confident enough to write independently.
The Reading Journals are used as way to assess the red (Rotten Reds) and green words (Fred Talk decodable words) and looking at the children’s next steps. The simple speed sounds are looked at daily and RWI aprons are worn by teachers and TAs to ensure these flash cards are being looked at throughout the day. The use of magnetic boards is a visual tool to help the children blend words together. Ditty books are used when children have a good understanding of Simple Speed Sounds Set 1 and 2.
The ways in which our teachers and TAs interact and talk with our children is critical to developing their speaking and listening skills. All staff have received RWI training and learning walks take place ensuring the standard of the delivery of phonics is at least good. The lessons have purpose, passion, pace, participation, partner work and praise.
Phonics in Year 1
The Year 1 phonic lessons continue the learning that has been built up in the Foundation stage. The children learn to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. Lively phonic books ( Get Writing ) are closely matched to children’s increasing knowledge of phonics and tricky words so that, early on, they experience plenty of success.
Repeated readings of the texts support their increasingly fluent decoding. A thought-provoking introduction prompts for thinking out loud and discussion help children comprehend what they are reading. Teachers and TAs read aloud and discuss picture books with similar themes to those in the Storybooks, so children build up background knowledge ready for the next story book.
The ways in which our teachers and TAs interact and talk with our children is critical to developing their speaking and listening skills. All staff have received RWI training and learning walks take place ensuring the standard of the delivery of phonics is at least good. The lessons have purpose, passion, pace, participation, partner work and praise.
Assessment
The assessment of phonics is regular and ongoing using a variety of assessment techniques, both formative and summative. Formative assessment happens daily during phonic sessions, English sessions, in provision and whenever teachers and TAs hear children read. Summative assessments are carried firstly when children enter Foundation Stage RBA (Reception Baseline Assessment). This takes place within the first six weeks. Part of that baseline is phonic knowledge such as hearing the initial sound in words, segmenting a word, and pointing to the correct picture. Integris data is compiled four times a year, entry, December, March, and end of year.
In Year 1, children are assessed using the RWI assessments on entry and every half term. This data is shared with the Year 2 team to ensure phonics sessions in the first half term are targeted before moving on to teach Phase 6. Children also complete a Phonic Screening Check every half term to assess their readiness for the check in June. This allows the Year 1 team to check for gaps and plan accordingly.
In Year 2, children who did not pass the Phonic Screening Check at the end of Year 1 will be assessed alongside Year 1 every half term. These children will be part of intervention groups to ensure they make as much progress as possible ready for the re-take at the end of the year. Children in Year 2 will also be assessed at the end of Phase 6 using the Phonics Tracker app.
Useful Phonics Websites
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks
www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/forestPhonics/index.html
The resources below can be used to support your Year 1 child with the statutory phonics screening.
Training on how to use these will be provided in our annual Year 1 Phonics Meeting.
