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What is Phonics?

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Phonics is a way of decoding written letters and spoken sounds to learn to read. The phonics approach teaches children to decode words by sounds, rather than recognising whole words. This approach to learning to read is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them to read and spell.

At Thomas A’ Becket Infant School we use a structured Synthetic System of Phonics to teach children to learn to read and children receive daily phonic lessons. These begin from the early stages of children beginning school in Reception and progress through to the end of Key Stage One. We follow a rigorous phonic overview that builds on children’s understanding and confidence in learning and applying sounds to letters. Children then learn to apply their knowledge pf phonemes to reading phonically decodable books that are matched to the child’s developing phonological understanding.

The order in which children learn phonemes is called Phases. They consist of the following:

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In each Phase the children are also taught Tricky Words. Tricky words are words that cannot be sounded out using the phonic knowledge that the children have. As children’s phonetic understanding develops, some of these tricky words are no longer tricky. In Year 1 and 2 the children learn Common Exception Words in line with the National Curriculum. Please see the year group Phonic Overviews for more details.

 

Daily Phonic Sessions​

Each day the children are taught a new GPC (See Glossary of Phonic Terms) and reviewing GPC’s already taught. To support the children in learning new GPC’s they learn a catchphrase to match the GPC and sing a Sound Song to help embed their understanding. Please see the Grapheme Chart with the matching catchphrase for each Phase. During these sessions the children practise the skills of decoding, blending and segmenting, applying the GPC’s taught to reading and writing words and sentences. Each session will review and revisit, teach, then practise and apply. This format is used throughout the school.

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Reading Practice Sessions​

Children will be given regular opportunities (twice weekly) to apply their developing phonic knowledge to reading fully decodable books. The books chosen are matched to the children’s phonic knowledge and children work in small groups, with each session having a clear focus on reading skills. These are:

• decoding

• fluency (reading at pace and with meaning and intonation)

• comprehension

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The children read in class using the decodable reading books ‘Collins Big Cat Phonics Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’. In Reception the children will take home the same book that they have read with their teacher in school for them to continue to practise at home. In Year 1 and 2 the children continue to read books in schools that are matched to their phonic understanding, but they move on the Cliff Moon Colour Banding system for their home reading. Children will also have a home login to access Collins Big Cat eBooks which allow the children to read the same books at home that they have read in school. The children also choose a book to read for pleasure from our school Library which they are encouraged to take home and share. As the children become confident within a particular phase or level they will move to more challenging books. It is worth noting that children should be able to read the matched level of books at 90% fluency. This is so they can transfer and apply their phonic knowledge whilst reading the book. Please click on the link below to access books that can support your child's reading at home.

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Assessment of Phonics

As children progress through the Phonic Phases they are assessed regularly in their phonic understanding using Phonic Tracker. This tracks children’s progress in their knowledge of the GPC’s taught, their ability to apply them and their ability to read Tricky Words and Common Exception Words. This tracking them informs teachers of progress and specific gaps in children’s phonetic knowledge. Children begin being tracked immediately upon entering school in Reception for their phonic understanding and those that have been identified as not being on track will participate in same day ‘Keep up’ lessons to support them in gaining good progress. These are short sessions that will not overload working memory. They are sessions that focus on recognition, recall and application of the gaps in understanding. Depending on the individual, these sessions may be part of a group or an individual focus group. Children may also participate in ‘Catch Up’ groups where there has been gaps identified in children’s knowledge.

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Year 1 Phonic Screener

At the end of Year 1, children are required to participate in the statutory Phonic Screening Check. This national assessment checks each child’s ability to decode a range of real and nonsense words. It checks the child’s ability to use the strategies taught of correcting decoding and blending words. The threshold mark determines whether a child has reached the expected standard in phonics by the end of Year 1. If your child does not meet the expected standard, they will be required to re-take the screening in Year 2.

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Reading across the Curriculum

The above sets out how we will teach your child to read. However, we know that it is vital to children’s long-term reading engagement and enjoyment that they experience a wide variety of quality books. Being exposed to many types of books will play an essential role in developing a love of reading and has been proven to develop children’s language considerably. We believe children should be exposed to books that are beyond their reading ability to develop a reading culture that places reading at the heart of our curriculum.​ 

During the wider school curriculum there is a variety of ways we expose children to these quality experiences. The children engage in ‘Book Talk’ sessions where we share different genres of books for children to listen to and discuss. These may be part of Whole School Theme reading lists or they help develop children moral and social development. In these sessions we think we have learnt or understood from the text and for opinions that children can explain and reason.

Please see Year Group Core Book and Reading for Pleasure book lists for some examples of the quality texts shared with children across our school.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​