Phonics

Phonics

Phonics and Reading at St Mary's

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

Dr Seuss

Parents Briefing 2020 Phonics and Early Reading

Parent video: How to say the sounds

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Intent:

At St Mary’s, we want all children to be equipped with the skills and confidence to become fluent, accurate and enthusiastic readers. We want to establish good phonetic knowledge in KS1 so that children can develop a love of reading as they progress through KS2. Through precise phonics teaching and assessment, your child is able to make good progress through our phonics scheme during their early years, and any gaps in their knowledge are closed quickly and effectively. Through choosing quality texts, we intend to develop a love of reading and allow children to recognise the pleasure they can get from their reading, as well as understanding that reading allows them to discover new knowledge, revisit prior knowledge and understand more about what they learn, igniting their imagination for ideas to use in their own work. We provide opportunities for reading across the curriculum to help pupils to know more, remember more and understand more to help them reach their potential at our school and beyond.

Implementation:

Phonics:

The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout our Foundation Stage and Key Stage One. Phonics is taught daily to all children in the Foundation Stage, Year 1 and those in Year 2 who have not passed the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, or still need practice to resolutely secure their decoding skills.
Staff systematically teach learners the relationship between sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them. Every morning, daily phonics is delivered, in bespoke small groups, based on assessment outcomes, to ensure that every child is taught at the correct stage of their phonics learning to maximise progress.
Staff ensure the application of phonics is taught across all subjects - embedding the process in a rich literacy environment for early readers.
Interventions are planned for those children who are working below expected levels.
Read Write Inc. (RWI) reading resources are used as the spine for the delivery of the phonics sessions. RWI is visual, audial and kinesthetic - thus increasing the likelihood of rapid progress.
Pupils are given reading books which closely match the phase of phonics that they are currently working in. For children on the RWI programme, they are given a storybook the same level that they are working in and the book that they have read that week in their RWI group.
Assessments take place within every half term, and phonics groups are adjusted accordingly, to ensure all children are working at their correct phonics level for rapid progress to be made.

Impact:

Children will have a love of reading and make at least good progress in reading form their last starting point of statutory assessment, or from their starting point in Foundation Stage 1. Children will use their reading skills as a key tool in helping them to learn, and as a result, know more, remember more and understand more to help them reach their potential at our school and beyond.