Phonics
Our intent is to:
Ensure that the teaching of phonics helps a child understand that spoken words are made up of lots of different sounds, and that these sounds can be put together in different ways to help them read and write words.
We have a fidelity to one SSP scheme (Systematic Synthetic Phonics) specifically developed for our school and we use this consistently across the school.
All children in Early Years and KS1 take part in high quality phonics sessions five times a week. These sessions are active and fast-paced, with an emphasis on teaching the skills needed for reading and writing.
Reading
Our phonics is linked to our 'Big Cat' reading scheme which has reading materials in the phonic phases.
Alongside their phonic reading book, it is important that children continue to experience a wealth of other books to allow them to develop the wider skills of reading - comprehension, prediction, expression and intonation.
Bedtime stories, revisiting favourite books (and letting them join in with repetitive phrases and sound effects), and modelling a love of reading are crucial in developing a love of reading and shouldn't be lost. We supplement this with picture books and the children are actively encouraged to apply their reading skills to 'real books'.
The children's reading skills are developed and extended in a range of different ways - whole class sharing of a high quality class text, individual reading with an adult, guided reading group sessions and paired reading with another child.
We measure the impact of our Phonics and Reading through the following methods:
- Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
- Images of the children’s practical learning.
- Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Half termly data drops for phonics with a school led assessment
- Pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
- Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.