Our approach to Phonics

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds. It is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read. Phonics runs alongside other teaching methods to help children develop vital reading skills and give them a real love of reading, hopefully for life.

At Meadow Farm Community Primary School, pre-reading skills are taught using an accredited systematic synthetic phonics scheme (SSP). We are using ‘Little Wandle’ to support our children to make the first step in their reading journey. Little Wandle provides resources and materials to ensure phonics is taught consistently for all children and is to a high quality.

The children are taught within the phase (there are 6 phases across the programme which span Nursery through to Year 2) that is appropriate to their level of development. The phonemes (sounds) are systematically taught before the children are shown how to blend them for reading and segmenting them for writing.

There are 44 phonemes in English which the children must learn. When a sound is written, it is known as a grapheme. Alongside this, the children are taught the ’high frequency words’ and ‘tricky words’ (those words which do not entirely follow the phonic rules). At the end of Year 1, children complete a Phonic Screening Check required by the Government to assess where they are. Staff receive regular training in the teaching of phonics which enables them to deliver interesting, interactive sessions that engage and motivate the children.

As reading is the key to learning, it is important that we teach phonics clearly and systematically, learning the initial sounds first before progressing to exploring all of the different ways that sounds can be made in the English language.

Overview of Phonic Phases

Phase One

Supports the importance of speaking and listening and develops children’s discrimination of sounds, including letter sounds. This phase is split into 7 aspects-

- Aspect 1 – Environment sound discrimination

- Aspect 2- Instrumental sound discrimination

- Aspect 3- Body percussion sound discrimination

- Aspect 4- Rhythm and rhyme

- Aspect 5- Alliteration

- Aspect 6- Voice sounds

- Aspect 7- Oral blending and segmenting

These aspects are crucial in providing the children with the best start on their phonics journey. We need children to be able to discriminate between different sounds and images before they are ready to recognise graphemes in Phase 2.

Phase Two

The children learn to pronounce the sounds themselves in response to letters, before blending them. This leads to them being able to read simple words and captions.

Phonemes: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

Tricky Words: the, to, I, no, go

Phase Three

Completes the teaching of the alphabet and moves on to sounds represented by more than one letter. The children will learn letter names and how to read and spell some tricky words.

Phonemes: j, v, w, x, y, z, zz, qu, ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, er

Tricky Words: put* pull*, full*, as, and, has, his, her, go, no, to, into, she, push* he, of, we, me, be

Phase Four

The children learn to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants.

Tricky Words: said, so, have, like, some, come, love, were, there, little, one, do, when, out, what, here, says, today, out, one

Phase Five

The children broaden their knowledge of sounds for use in reading and spelling. They will begin to build word-specific knowledge of the spellings of words.

Phonemes:

Phase Six

This focuses more sharply on word-specific spellings. It encourages children to become fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers

Video: How to correctly pronounce our phonemes:

Reception- Autumn 1-Phase 2: https://youtu.be/-ZtjFIvA_fs

Reception- Autumn 2- Phase 2 Autumn 2: https://youtu.be/qDu3JAjf-U0

Reception- Spring 1- Phase 3: https://youtu.be/DvOuc7cWXxc

Video:  How we teach:

A quick guide to alien words: https://youtu.be/VtoJZMVgy1I

How we teach tricky words: https://youtu.be/NTC0PbtmeUA

How we teach blending: https://youtu.be/IL5YUCPyC5I

Books coming home:

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A sharing book.  Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Sharing book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!