Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing of the English language by developing learners’ phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes—in order to teach the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns that represent them. At St Richard Reynolds Primary children in EYFS and Year 1 receive daily phonics sessions through supportive, differentiated group work.
Reception and Year 1, teachers use progressive planning based on the ‘Read Write Inc’ programme. Focused activities allow children to revisit, learn, practise and apply their knowledge and understanding through engaging learning activities. Pupils are systematically taught the phonemes (sounds), how to blend the sounds through words for reading, and how to segment the sounds for spelling. Pupils are then provided opportunities to explore, develop and apply their phonological awareness in activities and games within the learning environment. In Reception and Year 1 children are formally assessed every half term by class teachers and our ‘Phonics Tracker’ system identifies any gaps in learning to provide targeted support. When children reach the summer term of Year 1, their phonic knowledge is assessed through the statutory phonics screening check. If a child does not meet the expected standard in Year 1 they are re-tested during Year 2 to monitor progress and identify necessary support and intervention.
In Year 2 and KS2 children continue with phonics and progress to the teaching of spelling patterns. Intervention programmes, designed to ‘boost’ children’s learning, are also put in place to support children in developing and applying the skills they need for reading and writing.
Here are some useful links for practising phonics at home:
Match the word with picture
Sounding and blending
Creating words phoneme and digraph
Sorting real and alien words
Sorting real and alien words
How to pronounce the sounds