Curriculum

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Phonics

09 Nov 2021


Intent Statement for Phonics
 
The subject leader for Phonics is Miss Sally Williamson.

They can be contacted by emailing admin@northstainley.n-yorks.sch.uk using the subject title FAO of Miss Sally Williamson.

With oversight and support from our Senior Leadership team subject leaders oversee and monitor the intent, implementation and impact of their subject.

Intent

Our fundamental aim is to teach every child to develop a love for reading. We strive to teach children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension, as well as develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. These essential skills not only unlock doors to the rest of the curriculum, but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and future life experiences. 

Phonics Rationale 
At North Stainley CofE, we strive to teach children to read effectively and fluently using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme (RWI) which includes teaching synthetic phonics, sight vocabulary, decoding and encoding words as well as spelling and accurate letter formation. 
 
Using the RWI Scheme, to teach children to decode and then read, we aim to teach children from Early Years up to Year 2 to: 
 
  • Apply their phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words 
  • Respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all common 40+ phonemes 
  • Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words that contain the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences (GPCs) that they have been taught 
  • Read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound 
  • Read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings 
  • Read words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs 
  • Read words with contractions and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s) 
  • Accurately read aloud books, that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words 
  • Reread books to build up their fluency, accuracy and expression and hence develop confidence and enjoyment of reading 
  • Read most high-frequency regular words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending; only needing to sound out unfamiliar words 
  • Spell words containing each of the 40+ phonemes by segmenting the sounds in words 
  • Spell common exception words correctly 
  • Add prefixes and suffixes to previously taught words 
  • Spell effortlessly, and with confidence, so that all their focus when writing can be directed towards composition 
  • Make phonetically plausible attempts to spell words correctly 
  • Select the correct GPC for words that contain sounds that have more than one GPC – e.g. ay, ai, a-e etc. 
  • Form each letter correctly, using RWI letter formation rhymes to encourage correct entry and exit points, orientation and letter size. 
 
Furthermore at North Stainley, these skills are embedded within daily RWI lessons. By focussing on the teaching of reading in the Early Years and KS1, using a synthetic phonics scheme, children learn to read unfamiliar printed words by blending (decoding) and speedily recognise familiar printed words by sight. We want all children to enjoy and experience early success in learning to read. We are committed to developing children’s love of reading and to help them to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. 
 
These principles and features characterise our approach to the teaching of reading using RWI: 
  • Teachers teach RWI using a detailed, proven step-by-step teaching scheme; where children are first taught simple GPCs, to accurately blend taught sounds, to decode simple words containing taught graphemes and then to read specifically designed books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. 
  • Pupils are taught within small homogenous groups, across year groups, which reflect their performance in RWI phonics assessments. 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. 
  • RWI teachers have all the RWI resources needed to teach RWI and they follow detailed lesson plans. This ensures the consistency of the teaching of reading, in every RWI lesson, irrespective of the RWI reading teacher. 
  • Teachers attend regular in-house CPD sessions, where they have the opportunity to learn about pedagogical changes, new RWI resources and to observe and practice specific parts of the teaching process. 
  • Regular assessment ensures that pupils are taught in homogeneous groups which match their phonic knowledge and reading level. Pupils making speedy progress move groups quickly. Those pupils making steady progress continue at an appropriate pace matched to their reading level. Those pupils making slower progress are usually taught in smaller groups and generally receive additional small group or one-to-one intervention. 
 
We assess all pupils from Reception to Year 2 who are taking part in Read Write Inc. Phonics using RWI Assessment materials. Children in Year Two doing Read Write Inc. Spellings are assessed weekly through spelling tests and in class monitoring. We use this data to assign them to the most appropriate RWI Group and to identify if they need to have any additional support, which is delivered via intervention. This provides a good indication of their progress relative to their starting points. We track the phonic progress that pupils make from Reception to Year 2 and, at the end of Year 1; we evaluate pupils’ acquisition of GPCs and decoding skills using the Phonics Screening Check (PSC). This ensures that we are able to maintain high standards in the teaching of the early stages reading in EYFS (using the Reading statements in the EYFS Profile), in Year 1 (using the PSC materials) and in Year 2 (using the statutory KS1 Reading assessment materials). Pupils in KS2 that are still acquiring word reading skills, continue to be part of the RWI program via intervention. 

Phonics Policy - 2021 


Implementation

Here, North Stainley Primary School, we are dedicated to enabling our children to become enthused, engaged and successful lifelong readers. To achieve this, we implement structured daily phonic lessons where phonetic knowledge is developed. We use the Read, Write, Inc programme to deliver a highly successful, rigorous reading programme which is carefully matched to the new curriculum. Children progress through 3 sets of sounds, allowing them to learn the essential ‘building blocks’ of words to help them read and spell with greater fluency. Once the children have passed the Year One Phonics Screening and enter Year Two, we then adopt a consistency whereby the children move onto the Read, Write, Inc Spellings Programme. 
 
Phonics - Long Term Plan - 2021


Impact 

The measure of impact is presently being developed by subject leaders.

Our consistent approach to the teaching of our systematic phonics curriculum enables children to become confident, fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers, which in turn, unlocks doors to the rest of the curriculum allowing children to blossom and flourish in all areas.


  


 

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North Stainley
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 3HT
Great Britain
admin@northstainley.n-yorks.sch.uk
01765 635276
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