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Building each other up - with God as our firm foundation Thessalonians 5: 11
Phonics
At St Paul’s we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. Through RWI phonics, children learn a simple alphabetic code followed by a more complex code. All reading books progress cumulatively, matched to the sound’s children are learning and already know. The teaching of phonics is of high priority.
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The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.
Proverbs 19: 8
• The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily to all children in EYFS, Year 1 and those in Year 2 who have not passed the phonics screening in Year 1 or completed the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics programme.
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• Children take part in daily synthetic phonics sessions, which follow the Read Write Inc. scheme. Children are encouraged to transfer the skills they learn in phonics sessions into their independent reading and writing in the continuous provision, or across the wider curriculum.
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• Children are taught to: -decode letter/sounds correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills -read ‘tricky’ (red words) on sight -understand what they read -read aloud with fluency and expression -write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar -spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words -acquire good handwriting
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• Children are taught to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as inaccurate pronunciation of pure sounds, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.
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• Children are grouped, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that children often make faster progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.
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• Staff ensure that children read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the ‘red words’. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to children: they are soon able to read these texts for themselves.
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• For those children who are not making the expected level of progress in phonics and reading will have 1:1 or small group interventions. With RWI one-to-one tutoring for our slowest progress readers in YR to Y4 and RWI Fresh Start for those children inY5/6 that are below age-related expectations, we ensure that no child gets left behind.
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• Children who enjoy Reading.
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• Children who are phonetically confident and are able to comprehend what they have read.
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• Children who are fluent readers.
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• Children who are able to use appropriate expression and intonation.
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• Children who have an embedded understanding of the alphabetic code and can very quickly learn wo write words and sentences.
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• Children who pass the Phonics Screening Check by the end of Year 1.
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Phonics Expectations Overview
The table below details the progression of sounds, and book stages, that children should to be able to read:
Frequently Asked Questions