At Hadleigh Community Primary School we strive to ensure that children become successful fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One, who are eager to read for pleasure, as well as reading to learn.

In Reception we ensure that the teaching of reading is based upon a systematic approach to teaching synthetic phonics daily and that children are given the opportunity to apply their phonics skills to not only decoding words but also to reading phonetically appropriate texts and books. This approach of delivering high quality daily phonics sessions continues into Key Stage 1 and where appropriate Key Stage 2 with specific children.

Aims

· To teach children aural discrimination, phonemic awareness and rhyme to aid reading, writing and spelling development.

· To encourage the use of segmenting and blending so that decoding skills provide a sound foundation for reading, writing and spelling.

· To ensure the teaching of phonics is interactive and investigative.

· To ensure that children know the 44 phonemes within the English language.

· To teach children to recognise graphemes within words and associate them with the appropriate phoneme when reading and spelling.

· To provide children with strategies to identify and apply their knowledge of ‘tricky words’ both in their reading and writing.

· To enable children to apply phonic awareness to help develop the fluency of reading.

In September 2022 we moved from using ‘The Song of Sounds’ scheme to use the validated government phonics scheme Anima Phonics. This scheme provides songs, actions and handwriting rhymes as supporting materials to help the children engage with and learn their phonics. There are also reading books which are linked to the children’s progression in phonics as well as intervention materials which can be used with the older children. They also provide materials to support children’s learning at home.

In Reception and KS1 phonics is delivered through a programme of discrete daily phonics lessons.

· In Reception we cover Phase 2 and Phase 3 phonemes whilst also providing experience of applying Phase 2 and 3 phonemes in order to allow them to

decode words from Phase 4, whilst also teaching the Phase 2, 3 and 4 tricky rainbow words.

· In Year 1 they revisit the children’s knowledge of Phase 3 phonemes whilst covering Phase 5 and the relevant tricky words.

· In Year 2 they cover Phase 6, whilst also learning the relevant KS1 high frequency words.

· After adjustments made in this initial year when switching between schemes we will be following the progression document provided by Anima Phonics.

KS2 children who are not yet fluent readers are provided with tailored small group or individual phonics sessions, designed to close the gap between themselves and their peers. Throughout KS2 revision of phonics is addressed where appropriate within the context of English and other lessons, such as enabling children to decode subject specific language.

To learn more about phonics we recommend that you visit a website called Oxford Owls using the link – https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading/phonics-made-easy/

Here you will find a video explaining the synthetic approach to teaching phonics, information about how to pronounce each phoneme, how children learn to blend and read words and also ideas for how you can support your child at home.

Y1 Phonics Screening Check

What is the phonics screening check?

The Year 1 phonics screening check is an assessment of your child’s ability to apply their phonics knowledge to decode words. It helps your school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress. The check usually takes place in June.

How does the check work?

Your child will sit with their teacher and be asked to read 40 words aloud. Your child may have read some of the words before, while others will be completely new. The check will contain a mix of real words and ‘silly’ or pseudo words (such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’). Pseudo words are included because they are new to all children. Children cannot read the pseudo words by using their memory or

vocabulary; they have to use their decoding skills based upon their phonics knowledge.

The check normally takes just a few minutes to complete and there is no time limit. If your child is struggling, the teacher will stop the check. The check is carefully designed not to be stressful for your child. If you were notified last year that your child had not met the required standard to the pass the test in Year 1, they will be retaking the test again in Year 2.

After the check

You will be told about your child’s progress in phonics and how he or she has done in the screening check by the end of the Summer Term. If your child has found the check difficult, support will be put in place to help him or her improve. You might like to ask how you can support your child to take the next step in reading.

Reading Schemes – Reception and Key Stage 1

Our school maintains a large stock of reading books for children to borrow and take home. These are organised into different colour bands using the phonics progression that the children have covered and the National Book Bands Scheme. Within these bands there are books from a range of reading schemes including The Oxford Reading Tree, Floppy’s Phonics, Collins Big Cat, Phonics Bug and Anima Phonics. There is a range of both fiction and non-fiction books, as well as poetry. The colours link to our school assessments. Staff regularly check and assess children’s ability to ensure the children take home books carefully pitched to their ability level. Children share books as a class, in groups and individually. KS1 children are able to take home a free choice reading book which is based upon their appropriate book colour and is linked to their current phonics learning and ability.