At St Nicholas Primary Academy our early readers follow the Letters and Sounds synthetic phonics programme.  As a school we subscribe to Phonics Play and use the planning and interactive materials to enliven the curriculum.

 

The six phases of the Letters and Sounds document provides a structure for teachers to follow and plan children’s progression from, although the boundaries between the phases are not fixed, allowing teachers to plan across the phases depending on the class needs. Teachers’ assessment of individual children will inform the rate at which their children are able to progress through the phases and adapt the pace accordingly.

It is important that the five phases are embedded and the children have a sound understanding of the key knowledge and skills before the final sixth phase is introduced. Year 2 teachers will then introduce phase 6 through the Read, Write, Inc. spelling programme.

 

Daily Teaching:

Each child will benefit from:

• A daily, discrete phonics session.
• Fluid groupings which change according to children’s progress.
• Highly trained practitioners leading fun, interactive and effective sessions.
• Effective assessments which track children’s achievement and attainment over time.
• The opportunity to work across an age phase rather than across a year group.

Assessment:

All teachers should ensure that they are aware of individual children’s needs through formative assessment, which will be formally kept in a summative assessment record.

Progress is reviewed termly to ensure teaching is tailored to children’s needs.

 

At the end of Year 1, there is a statutory assessment: Year 1 phonics screening check (Standards and Testing Agency 2012) which takes place in June each year.

Children who do not achieve the Threshold Score in Year One are given extra support in Year Two and are then re-tested the following year.

We appreciate phonics can be a daunting world with lots of unusual vocabulary that children use in their lessons.  Please take your time to view the videos below to find more out about synthetic phonics.

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