Kentisbeare C of E Primary School

Phonics Vision Statement

Intent

Our intent, in phonics, at Kentisbeare School is to ensure that the teaching of phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background. Our aim is for all children to have a solid knowledge and understanding of letters and sounds, ensuring that it is embedded and built upon as they progress through the Early Years and KS1. At Kentisbeare Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics formally in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Kentisbeare Primary School, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects. Our Phonics Policy sets out the means by which we ensure consistency and a systematic approach to the teaching and learning of phonics. It will allow our children to learn to read and spell words both independently and confidently, using the sounds they have required during their first years of school. It aims to reinforce the high expectations that we have at Kentisbeare for pupil progress.

Implementation

Foundations for phonics in Pre-School

• We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet 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 Pre-School children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.

Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

• We teach phonics each morning for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 3 of the Autumn term.
• Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
• The teaching of whole-class phonics is delivered using grapheme/phoneme correspondence (GPC) flashcards and the interactive whiteboard for the teaching of word reading and tricky words.
• Little Wandle phonics lessons will be tailored to ensure that every child’s phonics needs are met within whole-class teaching.
  • Sentence level work will be adapted to both support and challenge individual learners.
  • Additional adults will be used to support individuals and/or groups of learners.
• We follow the Little Wandle expectations of progress:
  • Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
  • Children in Reception are taught Phase 2, 3 and 4 tricky words.
  • Children in Year 1 review Phase 2, 3 and 4 phonemes and tricky words.
  • Children in Year 1 are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy and Phase 5 tricky words.

Reception Overview

Reception Tricky Words