Phonics

Flitwick Lower School approach to Phonics

Intent

At Flitwick Lower School we believe that all of our children can become fluent readers and we aim to develop a genuine joy in reading for pleasure. Reading is integral to accessing the wider curriculum and enabling children to become successful learners. At Flitwick Lower School, reading is our passion and is embedded throughout the school in a variety of ways including reading corners, book clubs, reading initiatives and through the shared experience of reading in class.

We start teaching phase 1 phonics in pre-school and progress through the phases as the children move through to Foundation and Key stage 1. Children need to be taught the key skills in segmenting and blending to enable them to decode unfamiliar words and to begin to read with fluency. Once the skills are secure, children move on to No Nonsense spelling to develop their understanding of the spelling rules.

Implementation

Phonics in Pre-school and Foundation

In Early years, children are provided with a language-rich, inspiring environment as we believe this is integral in developing the key skills that underpin early reading and writing. We offer lots of opportunity for discussion around books and stories as well as role-play scenarios to deepen understanding and strengthen vocabulary. Children visit the library every week to encourage them to read for pleasure. Through reading, children are able to deepen their emotional intelligence and empathy

We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children which meets the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:

• sharing high-quality stories and poems
• learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
• activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
• attention to high-quality language

We ensure our pre-school children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) in Foundation.

Children also begin phase 1 phonics, which lays the essential foundations for all the teaching that follows.  In phase 1 children learn to differentiate between sounds in the environment, experiment with instrument sounds and body percussion, discover the joy of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration and begin to focus on adapting their own voice sounds and oral segmenting and blending.

In Foundation, our curriculum places communication and language as an underpinning principal of early child development. Practices from Phase 1 are revisited straight away, to support the children with a smooth transition into school. Daily sessions focus on revisiting familiar rhymes, songs and a larger emphasis places on oral segmenting and blending in the first few weeks of the children starting school. Moving onto phase 2 as soon as the children are ready. At Flitwick Lower School we use the Dfe validated, Little Wandle Phonics Scheme. We follow the phase progression using  resources,  The teaching session builds from 10minutes when the children start in September in Foundation, increasing to up to 30 minutes as the children develop their skills. Books, matched to the phonics phases, are sent home to consolidate the children’s knowledge of the sounds they are learning as well as to develop their fluency. Children who are not able to follow the progression at the expected level receive additional support.

Key Stage 1

In Year 1 we continue with daily phonics sessions which last for up to 30 minutes. The sessions continue to support the children in developing their skills in segmenting and blending words, as well as learning to read key words that are not decodable. Books, matched to the phonics phases, are sent home to consolidate the children’s knowledge of the sounds they are learning as well as to develop their fluency.

To assess progress, we track children’s phonic knowledge by completing a phonics tracker each half term to monitor which phase the children are working on and to identify children who require further support. Each class teacher also keeps a phonics assessment sheet for continuous formative assessment.

For children who are not making the expected progress, we run interventions as well as provide in-class support, using our assessments to target their area of need effectively.

Year 2

In the Autumn Term daily phonics builds upon and consolidates all children’s phonics knowledge. For children who did not pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, additional sessions are planned alongside key interventions. Spelling patterns are taught using the ‘No Nonsense’ spelling programme.

Key Stage 2

‘No Nonsense’ spelling is continued throughout Year 3 and 4 to continue to develop spelling skills. Children who are not secure in phase 6 by the end of Year 2 continue to receive additional support.

Impact

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, children will become secure with their phonic knowledge to support their reading and writing.

1:1 reading or small group reading will ensure all children are heard by an adult every week to support segmenting and blending and to develop their fluency.

Children will be able to read across the curriculum, supporting their learning in all subject areas.

Children in Year 1 will pass the phonics screening check and all children across the school will read books to match their level in line with National Expectations.

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to quickly identify any children needing additional support. This is done in a number of ways

Formative Assessment

• Daily within phonics lessons
• 1:1 reading or small group reading
• Baseline

Summative Assessment

• A phonics assessment sheet – this provides up to date information on which sounds each child is secure on in Foundation and Year 1.
• A phonics tracker – completed at 4 key periods of the year – October, January, March and July to identify which phase children are working in and this is then compared to National Expectations.
• Termly analysis – to assess progress and to compare different groups of learners.
• Simple view of reading quadrants – completed at 4 key periods of the year – October, January, March and July to identify children who require support in word recognition, language comprehension or both.
• Observations throughout the day in the continuous provision.