Phonics Overview Statement

Our Federation Phonics and Early Reading Curriculum

Intent - What are our aims?

Within Calstock and Stoke Climsland Federation, we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Through daily, systematic and consistent high quality phonics teaching, children learn to segment words to support their spelling ability and blend sounds to read words. To allow our children to develop a strong phonic awareness and effective blending and decoding skills, we have chosen to use a synthetic phonics programme called Read, Write, Inc. produced by Ruth Miskin. Read Write Inc. is a method of learning centred around letter sounds and phonics, blending sounds together to read and spell words and applying these skills across the curriculum. Using Read Write Inc. the children learn to read fluently so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. We passionately believe that teaching children to read and write independently is one of the core purposes of a primary school enabling them to access a broad and exciting curriculum and ensuring they flourish as learners throughout their time at our school. These fundamental skills not only hold the keys to the rest of the curriculum but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and future life chances.

Implementation: How do we teach Phonics and Early Reading?

We begin, in Reception, by teaching the children set 1 sounds. Children can start blending sounds into words as soon as they know a small group of letters well. Once the children have been taught the first 5 sounds (m, a, s, d, t), they are then taught assisted blending using the sounds that they know. During lessons children are taught to hear sounds and blend them together in sequence to make a word. We start with blending oral sounds, then progress to reading the letters and blending them together to read the word. In Read Write Inc phonics the individual sounds are called ‘speed sounds’ – because we want children to read them effortlessly. Set 1 sounds are the single letter sounds and set 1 special friend sounds. They are taught in the following order;

m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, sh, r, j, v, y, w, th, z, ch, qu, x, ng, nk.

There are 12 Set 2 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters which represent just one sound, e.g. ay as in play, ee as in tree and igh as in high. These are ‘special friend’ sounds. When children are taught Set 2 sounds they will learn:

a simple picture prompt linked to the sound
a short phrase to say e.g. may I play
the letters that represent a sound (special friends) e.g. ay

Each sound has a list of green words linked to it, so that the children have the opportunity to sound out and blend words containing the new sound they have been taught, for example, s-p-r-ay = spray. Green words are decodable words that children can use their ‘Fred Talk’ to sound out and blend. They feature the sound that the children have been learning that day. In a phonics lesson, children cover up to 5 or 6 new green words to support their reading of a new sound. When learning Set 3 speed sounds the children will be taught alternative sounds/graphemes, e.g. ee as in tree and ea as in tea.

The tables below show each sound, the associated phrase and example green words for set 1 special friend sounds, set 2 and 3 sounds and additional sounds that are taught.

Set 1 ‘Special Friend’ Sounds

Sound	Phrase	Green words
sh		Ship, shop,
th		Thing, thin,
ch		Chip, chop, champ,
qu		Queen, quack, quest
ng	Thing on a string	Thing, string, ring, king
nk	I think I stink	Stink, think, link, sink

Set 2 Sounds

Sound	Phrase	Green words
ay	May I play?	Day, say, play, tray, today
ee	What can you see?	See, feel, need, sleep, three
igh	Fly high	Night, fight, flight, high
ow	Blow the snow	Show, blow, flow, snow
oo	Poo at the zoo	Zoom, moon, food, cool
oo	Look at a book	Look, book, good, hood
ar	Start the car	Star, bar, car, start, cart
or	Shut the door	Sort, short, worn, horse
air	That’s not fair	Fair, hair, chair, stair
ir	Whirl and twirl	Whirl, twirl, shirt, skirt
ou	Shout it out	Mouth, found, shout, loud
oy	Toy to enjoy	Toy, boy, employ, joy

Set 3 Sounds

Sound	Phrase	Green words
a_e	Make a cake	Make, cake, flake, bake
ea	Cup of tea	Neat, real, clean, please
i_e	Nice smile	Hide, shine, white, nice
o_e	Phone home	Phone, bone, home, spoke
u_e	Huge brute	Tune, rude, June, perfume
aw	Yawn at dawn	Saw, law, raw, straw
are	Share and care	Bare, spare, scare, flare
ur	Nurse with a purse	Burn, turn, hurl, burp, lurk
ow	Brown cow	Howl, down, brown, frown
oi	Spoil the boy	Join, coin, voice, choice
ai	Snail in the rain	Paint, train, rain, pain
e	e: he, she, me, be, we	He, she, we, be, me
oa	Goat in a boat	Coat, throat, boat, float
ew	Chew the stew	Flew, blew, crew, new
er	A better letter	Over, weather, never
ire	Fire, fire!	Spire, conspire, hire, fire
ear	Hear with your ear	Fear, dear, gear, spear
ure	Sure it’s pure	Picture, mixture, adventure

Additional sounds

Sound	Phrase	Green words
ue	Come to the rescue!	Rescue, blue, glue, clue
ie	Terrible tie!	Ties, tried, pie, lie
au	Paul the astronaut	Paul, August, author, pause
e_e	Go Steve and Pete!	Even, Steve, Pete, theme
kn	Knock knock, who’s there?	Knight, knee, knock, knit, knot
ck	Tick tock clock	Clock, pick, black, snack

All staff within Calstock and Stoke Climsland schools have been on the official 1 day Read Write Inc Speeds sounds training to allow consistent and effective teaching of the scheme. We are in the process of training more staff as the join EYFS and KS1 teams as well as the phonics lead providing regular training and support to staff. Both schools will all attend the RWI story book training in April.

Throughout Early Years and Key Stage One, children are taught in small and focussed groups to target their specific needs for phonics, alongside children of the same ability. These groupings are based on Read Write Inc assessments that are carried out at the start of each school year and then continue half termly. The phonics lead then collates this information and regroups children based on their current skill level allowing progression for most children but repetition and support for those that need more time on a specific set of sounds. This approach allows lessons to be focused and specific to the needs of the children. Lessons are taught by both teachers and LSA’s who are supported by the phonics lead in their delivery.

As children build up their knowledge of sounds they are able to apply their decoding skills to any unfamiliar word, whether it be real or nonsense. During lessons each day children will practise their decoding skills by sounding out nonsense words. Children are unable to rely on existing knowledge of real words, and instead have to use their letter-sound knowledge. This is an important part of the Phonics Screening Check that the children complete at the end of year 1.

We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ability to read ‘tricky words’; so they experience early reading success and gain confidence that they are readers, as well as consolidating the learning that takes place in school. In EYFS and Year 1, children bring home a Read Write Inc scheme reading book that is matched the their stage of the phonics group.

Impact: How will we know this?

Through the consistent, systematic and daily teaching of the Read Write Inc Phonics programme, our aim is for children to become fluent, confident readers by the end of Key Stage One. Children are assessed at the end of Year 1 using a Government Statutory Assessment Tool known as the Phonics Screening Check. This screening check confirms whether the child has learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard and will identify sounds needing further support in Year 2. The children are assessed one to one by the reading leader, who is a familiar adult to them. Those who do not pass the screening will continue their phonics lessons in Year 2 by being streamed into the correct group within the Year 1 cohort. This allows for them to consolidate and develop their confidence, within a group aimed at their specific ability, ready to retake the screening at the end of Year 2.

Through the Read Write Inc programme, children will be equipped with the skills to decode unfamiliar words using strategies that they have been taught in their daily lessons. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school. Hopefully, this leads to a love of reading and children taking pleasure in exploring the rich literary world around them with a firm phonic basis to support them.

Phonics Screening Check

What is the Year 1 phonics screening check?

The phonics screening check is taken individually by all children in Year 1 in England, and is usually taken in June. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

What is in the phonics screening check?

There are two sections in this 40-word check and it assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1. Your child will read up to four words per page for their teacher and they will probably do the check in one sitting of about 5–10 minutes.

What sort of check is it and is it compulsory?

.need it. It is not a stressful situation as the teacher will be well-equipped to listen and understand your child’s level of skills. They will also complete the check with a familiar adult. There will be a few practice words first to make sure your child understands the activity.

What does it check?

It checks that your child can:

Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words.
Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.
Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as pseudo words.

What are nonsense or pseudo words and why are they included?

These are words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an associated meaning e.g. brip, snorb. Pseudo words are included in the check specifically to assess whether your child can decode a word using phonics skills and not their memory. The pseudo words will be shown to your child with a picture of a monster and they will be asked to tell their teacher what sort of monster it is by reading the word. This not only makes the check a bit more fun, but provides the children with a context for the nonsense word which is independent from any existing vocabulary they may have. Crucially, it does not provide any clues, so your child just has to be able to decode it. Children generally find nonsense amusing so they will probably enjoy reading these words.

How will my child be scored? Is there a pass mark?

The check is not about passing or failing but checking appropriate progress is being made. If children do not reach the required standard, then the teacher will be in touch to discuss plans and offer additional, tailored support to ensure that your child can catch up. Children progress at different speeds so not reaching the threshold score does not necessarily mean there is a serious problem. Your child will re-sit the check the following summer term.

For the last few years, the threshold mark (or pass standard) set by the government has been 32 correct answers out of 40.

What happens to the results?

The school will report your child’s results to you by the end of the summer term as well as to the local authority, but the results won’t be published in a league table as with SATs. If you have any concerns, do talk to your teacher about this in a parents’ meeting or after school.

Do all schools and children have to participate?

All schools and academies in England must take part in the phonics screening check unless they are an independent school. There is a process in place for reviewing children with special educational needs, so if your child’s teacher thinks there are very special reasons related to your child and their needs that make them think the phonics screening check may not be appropriate, they will decide on appropriate action and discuss this with you