Phonics

Subject Leader - Mrs K. Knight

Phonics Overview

In Pheasey Park Farm Primary School and Early Years Centre, we understand the strong correlation between children's reading abilities from a young age and their future life chances. We therefore prioritise reading throughout our curriculum as we want children to quickly go from learning to read to reading to learn. To enhance children’s chances of becoming fluent readers, children are taught to read through synthetic Phonics.

Phonics is taught through AnimaPhonics, this is an accredited scheme that ensures a systematic approach by following the sequence of revisit and review, teach, practise, apply. AnimaPhonics combines stimulating online lessons, vibrant illustrations and engaging materials to provide a simultaneous visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approach to the development of early reading. This multi-media delivery allows children to physically engage with the lesson content. Each new sound is introduced through a song or poem, with a corresponding mnemonic action.

A complete systematic synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme is one that provides:

All that is essential to teach SSP to children in Reception and Key Stage 1 in mainstream primary schools.
Sufficient support for children in Reception and Key Stage 1 to become fluent readers.
A structured route for most children to meet or exceed the expected standard in the Year One Phonics Screening Check.
All National Curriculum expectations for word reading through decoding by the end of Key Stage 1.

All Reception and Year 1 children complete daily Phonics lessons and intervention groups are put in place throughout the day to ensure children have the opportunity to ‘keep up’. Phonics lessons continue in Year 2 and Key Stage 2 for those children who need it. Children are assessed half termly on their Phonics skills and our reading books correspond with the phoneme/graphemes children have been taught.

For more information about Phonics, visit the link below.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/Phonics/

Curriculum Intent

The AnimaPhonics scheme is designed with the intent that all children will become competent readers, equipped with the required reading and writing skills to thrive in later life. In school, we foster positive ‘can do’ attitudes and believe that all children can achieve in Phonics. It is our aim for children to become fluent in the fundamentals of Phonics so that they develop skills to blend and segment in order to apply this knowledge to reading and writing. It is our goal that all children will become competent, confident and aspirational readers and writers and for every child to achieve their individual potential.

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Phonics, we implement a scheme that is progressive throughout Early Years and KS1. High importance is placed upon Phonics as it is an area of knowledge that children need in order to become confident readers and writers and access the curriculum.

Children start by developing their listening and speaking skills through regular, planned opportunities and activities. In Reception and Year One Phonics is taught every day following the AnimaPhonics accredited scheme to ensure a systematic approach. Phonics lessons follow the same sequence of revisit and review, teach, practise, apply. Children who are not yet fluently reading, benefit from individual or small group interventions to ensure they ‘keep up’ and booster sessions take place for children to accelerate progress. Phonics lessons continue in Year 2 and Key Stage 2 for those children who require it. Alongside this, the children are taught to read Rainbow Words (high frequency words) and know the meaning of a digraph and trigraph. Phonics is reinforced in other lessons through verbal feedback, use of sound mats and written feedback. Phonics parent workshops are held throughout the year so that learning can be reinforced at home. Weekly spelling tests link to phonic sounds previously learnt.

Phonics homework is set every week for children in Year 1 to consolidate their learning, using various platforms such as Education City and Purple Mash. During the Summer Term, phonics homework is set every week for children in Reception.

Children are assessed on their Phonics skills half termly, this allows teachers the opportunity to identify gaps in learning and inform future planning and intervention. Books are then issued and read following the phonemes taught to ensure these are embedded. Books across the reading scheme have been carefully matched to the sequence of Phonics taught.

Impact

AnimaPhonics is designed to ensure that pupils’ knowledge of phonemes and graphemes are embedded. The curriculum content and progression document provides clear targets for pupils at each stage of their Phonics learning which enables teachers to provide effective learning opportunities at the appropriate level. The skills pupils are taught are built upon each time a unit and phase is confidently completed.

The impact of AnimaPhonics is measured through half termly assessments, school leader monitoring and subject leader monitoring. Outcomes in Phonic lessons and English books will identify children’s ability to recall and apply skills accurately at an age-appropriate level.

Teachers will assess children’s learning at the beginning of the school year and then half termly. Teachers will use these assessments within lessons to offer support where necessary and to identify intervention groups needed to allow children the opportunity to ‘keep up’. Staff will also use assessments to inform and adapt their planning and to address any misconceptions. At the end of Year One, children sit the Phonics Screening check. If children do not pass the Screening Check, daily Phonics lessons will continue in Year 2 and children will have the opportunity to resit the Screening Check at the end of Year 2.