English - Phonics
The Phonics Lesson
At HCFS we have chosen to use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised as our systematic, synthetic phonics (SSP) programme to teach early reading and spelling. Our lessons consist of revisit and review, teach and practice approach, five days a week. Over the course of the academic year, children have opportunities to engage with Phonics both in Phonics lessons, reading lessons and English lessons. We believe a love of reading is the biggest indicator of future academic success.
At HCFS we intend to...
- Provide a high quality Phonics Curriculum (EYFS, KS1) that is relevant and engaging to all children through the Little Wandle Phonics Scheme,
- Provide children with the phonic skills to decode words in order to read fluently;
- Equip children with the core foundations of reading to go on to research any areas they wish;
- Ensure all children are confident readers, who can apply the skills learnt independently in a variety of situations;
- Provide engaging and relevant reading materials and opportunities for reading that enable pupils to develop a lifelong love of reading;
- Provide children with the understanding that although phonics is the main foundation for reading, there are some words that do not meet phonic rules, and therefore they need to learn a range of reading strategies that they can apply successfully.
- Use phonics to provoke thought within children – developing inquisitive readers who seek to ask questions about what they are reading and the patterns they see within words;
- Use parents as partners in their children’s reading and phonics journey;
- Support parents with developing their own phonic knowledge in order to aid their children;
- Motivate children to obtain new knowledge through using their phonic skills;
- Ensure children understand how valuable their phonic skills will be when supporting their reading in the real world, and the opportunities this can provide for them.
Phonics is taught systematically across the school:
1. Phases 1 – 3 are taught as part of the EYFS Curriculum.
Phases 4 – 5 are taught as part of the Year 1 Curriculum.
Year 2 and above children who need it, will still have phonics lessons and interventions adapted to their needs.
2. All sessions follow the same structure:
- Revisit and Review: recap of previously taught sounds, using flashcards and recapping previously taught words.
- Teach: teach new phoneme and practice orally blending words with new phoneme, teach new grapheme and words including new grapheme.
- Practice: reading/writing a sentence.
3. A consistent use of language and visuals is used with children (and parents) within Phonics sessions and general teaching.
Phonics Screening Check information
Reading Progression Map
Little Wandle Phonics
Progression Map and Parent Support
For more information about what your child is learning, please speak with their Class Teacher.