At Lower Fields Primary Academy we believe that developing strong reading skills is crucial for the children to develop a love of learning and to be able to access the wider curriculum.

Phonics is the study of sounds. Children are taught to read and write using phonics, linking the phonemes (sounds in words) and graphemes (the symbols used to represent them).

For the teaching of phonics we use the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) programme. Children are actively taught and supported to use phonics as the prime approach to decoding, avoiding the use of other strategies. Children should not need to resort to guessing or using the pictures or grammatical context.

From the moment they enter Nursery, children are exposed to a variety of sounds throughout the day (environmental, instrumental) with the emphasis on talking and listening. Phase One in Nursery plays a vital role in a child’s introduction to phonics. In the Summer term, children in Nursery will start Phase 2, learning one grapheme a week.

Daily phonics lessons are taught from Reception, where children will be introduced to phonemes and graphemes. Reception incorporates Phases 2 – 5 throughout the year. They will develop their ability to segment and blend phonemes together to say a word. Opportunities for reading are provided through the apply part of the session, small group reading and endless opportunities for children to practice and apply their learning in provision. Children are provided with fully decodable books that are matched to their ability.

In Year 1, these skills are built upon further, where children are able to revisit prior phases of phonics and learning. They build upon that by learning alternative spellings and pronunciations. Daily phonics and daily interventions are given to children to make sure they ‘keep up’ with the programme. Fully decodable books are an integral part of this strategy, as children participate in three additional reading sessions a week where they can practice their reading skills even further. Not only to embed their phonic knowledge but this allows to promote fluency. They are provided with books to take home that they can decode, as well as a book for pleasure. Phonics plays an important part in Year 1 as the Screening Test is taken during this year. Staff work closely with children and parents to provide as many opportunities as possible to revisit and apply their knowledge. We hope this will provide children with the tools to achieve success in their screening. We want children to leave Year 1 with the confidence to read in a fluent manner.

Year 2 consolidates all previous learning and expands upon it once again. Children are able to practice and revisit their knowledge and apply that to their reading and writing. The emphasis moves toward spellings, homophones and suffixes. Children are still provided with decodable books at their level, which helps them revisit and maintain good phonetic knowledge. Fluency is built up even further.

The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonics knowledge. It helps the school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress. It is administered when children are in Year 1 (the month of June).

The check will contain a mix of real words and ‘pseudo words’ (or ‘nonsense/alien words’). Children will be told before the check that there will be non-words that he or she will not have seen before. Pseudo words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’ are new to all children. Children cannot read the non-words by using their memory or vocabulary; they must use their decoding skills.

Our school will tell you about your child’s progress in phonics and how they have done in the Screening Check in the last half-term of Year 1.

Children who did not met the standard in Year 1 will retake the check in Year 2. All children are individuals and develop at different rates. The screening check ensures that us (as teachers) understand which children need extra help with decoding.

You will find a link to a previous Phonics Screening Check below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-screening-check-2022-materials

At Lower Fields Primary Academy we start children’s reading journey by providing every child that starts in Reception with an amazing book bag package that includes a book of nursery rhymes, a traditional story and a guide for supporting early phonics and reading at home.

In EYFS and KS1 children will be given a book that allows them to apply their phonics learning. The teacher will ensure that the book is decodable for your child. Your child should be able to read their ‘take home’ book with around 95% fluency. If a child struggles to read the book their comprehension and enjoyment of the text will be compromised.

Children should keep their reading book in their book bag and bring it to school every day. We encourage children to read at home every day.

Your child will also bring home a book to read for the purposes of developing their comprehension skills and ensuring children have an enjoyable and rich reading experience. We call this a reading for pleasure book and pupils are encouraged to select a book for themselves which an adult at home may read to them. This is taken from our library in school which children visit weekly.

Essential Letters and Sounds – Oxford Owl

Phase 2 phonemes and graphemes

Phase 3 phonemes and graphemes

Phase 5 phonemes and graphemes

PowerPoint for parents