Here at North Wootton Academy, we aim to create a love for Reading, Writing and Spelling through the consistent approach of Phonics teaching. We want every child to leave the school with the skills of an outstanding reader, writer and speller.

We believe that being able to read and spell are two of the most important skills children will learn during their early education.

The use of Phonics is one of the many skills needed to be able to become a competent reader and writer. Here at North Wootton Academy, we aim to teach high quality Phonics, consistently, to give children the best possible start to their reading and writing journey.

In order for children to be able to read and understand the texts they have read, or had read to them, they must learn to recognise and decode words on the page. Good quality Phonics teaching allows the child to be secure in the skills of word recognition and decoding which allows the child to read fluently.

This will result in children being able to read for pleasure and will allow them to move onto developing higher order reading for meaning skills.

Each class in Reception and Key Stage 1 teach Phonics as a discrete lesson every day and includes Phonics as part of the teaching and learning throughout other curriculum subjects. Phonics is taught as a whole class approach to ensure that quality first teaching is accessible to all children. Phonics is also continued in Key Stage 2, where necessary, to support those children who do not yet have the phonic knowledge and skills they need. This is led by a specified member of support staff to ensure that there is a strong continuity into Key Stage 2.

When children enter Reception, they are introduced to Phonics from day 1 with a brief recap on Phase 1 Phonics. From the second full week of school, children begin formal teaching of Phonics beginning with Phase 2 where all children will learn the phonemes for the corresponding grapheme. Initially, children begin with the single sounds before progressing onto digraphs and trigraphs. As they develop through their knowledge and understanding of Phonics, alternative pronunciations and spellings will be introduced in Year 1 before moving onto spelling rules in Year 2. 

Children are assessed at the end of each Phase which is then used as the basis for intervention. 

Phonics is clearly linked with early reading with children taking home two different reading books: one is based on the GPCs taught in the week and the other one being a colour banded book that provides breadth and exposure to a wider range of words.

The approach itself is in the main a combination of Read, Write Inc (RWI), Letters and Sounds and Jolly Phonics.

We use the bouncy and stretchy concept to identify phonemes from Read, Write Inc and the phoneme songs from Jolly Phonics as it is believed this multi-sensory approach best supports our learners in knowing and remembering more. 

In addition, the lesson sequence each week is heavily influenced by RWI in which pupils are spelling, reading and then writing using the focus phonemes.

Beyond this, the progression through the various stages of phonemes links closely to the Letters and Sounds document with some small exceptions such as the split digraphs.

Phonics planning in Reception focuses on 3 GPCs and 2 tricky/common exception words.

Key Stage 1 focus on a minimum of 2 GPCs a week with at least 2 common exception words a week.

Each daily Phonics lesson follows the same structure and process to improve a child’s long term memory. They do not have to interpret different instructions, instead they just have to complete the task with new Phonics knowledge. In addition, this utilises teaching time as teachers do not have to spend time explaining the process and more time can be given to quality first teaching.

Visual Learners

If your child is a visual learner, they learn by reading or seeing pictures. They understand and remember things by sight and they can picture what they are learning in their head. They learn best by using methods that are primarily visual. Visual learners like to see what they are learning.

Methods to support visual learners:

• All classes (Reception – Year 6) have a speed sound chart visible in the classroom which displays all of the graphemes being taught and learnt in Phonics.
• Reception and most Key Stage 1 classes have washing lines to display GPCs and the alphabet.
• Flashcards are used on a daily basis to recap previously learnt GPCs.
• Jolly Phonics songs are used in Reception for children to link songs and actions to phonemes.

Auditory Learners

If your child is an auditory learner, they learn by hearing and listening. They understand and remember things they have heard. Auditory learners store information by the way it sounds, and have an easier time understanding spoken instructions than written ones.

Methods to support auditory learners:

• My Turn, Your Turn is a feature that occurs in every Phonics lesson. The teacher says the phoneme followed by the children. This is during the Phonics recap and main teaching input.
• Jolly Phonics songs are used in Reception for children to link songs to phonemes.

Kinaesthetic Learners

A kinesthetic learner is someone who needs to be actively engaged in their learning. They are 'tactile' learners who use movement, testing, trial and error and a non-traditional learning environment to retain and recall information.

Methods to support kinaesthetic learners:

• Read Write Inc bouncy and stretchy movements are used during every Phonics lesson at least once. All classes recap previously learnt GPCs by taking part in a bouncy and stretchy workout. When new knowledge is introduced to the children, teachers will model a bouncy or stretchy action to link to the phoneme.
• Jolly Phonics actions and songs are also used in Reception for children to use movement and actions to recall phonemes learnt.
• Visuals are always evident in all Phonics lessons.
• Children get the opportunities to learn by trial and error by independent working skills.

At North Wootton every teacher is required to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the children in their class in line with the expectations set out in The Teacher Standards 2012. 

In order for this to happen, staff receive training and support to ensure that they provide good wave 1 provision (quality first teaching). They also identify and deliver wave 2 support (short term support interventions) alongside other support staff where appropriate.  Wave 3 support (individualized support and interventions for the higher need pupils) is implemented by support staff under the guidance of the class teachers, SENDCo and school Principal. All interventions are monitored for impact with assessments at the beginning and the end of each block of support.

All children take part in the whole class Phonics lesson in order for them to receive quality first teaching from the class teacher. Different learning styles are taken into consideration hence why we use a range of different elements from different schemes.

If a child needs additional support in Phonics knowledge, short term support interventions are put in place to ensure gaps do not form in their Phonics knowledge. These will be SMART targets identified by the teacher in order for the child to achieve and make progress.

As part of our Phonics teaching provision, teachers will use various strategies to adapt access to the curriculum including: 

• breaking tasks down into small steps e.g. using post it notes for spelling or for sentence structure.
• using technology to record ideas etc.
• writing frames e.g. phoneme frames with highlighted sound buttons.

The impact of the teaching in Phonics is assessed through the application of the Phonics assessment which are split into the 4 different phases (Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4 and Phase 5).  

All assessments are judged termly through a data validation process in which data, books and teaching are reviewed by the subject leader and discussed with each teacher to ensure an accuracy in assessment. 

All SEND, EAL and pupil premium champions track these cohorts specifically on a half-termly basis and conduct pupil progress reviews twice yearly. With regard to SEND, this may involve the reviewing of their progress on North Wootton SEND Pathway as required for pupils 2 years below the expected level. 

Within the EYFS, key milestones have been identified across the year and these are used to assess the children’s progress towards meeting the ELG for writing; this enables the more timely identification of any gaps that need addressing.   

In addition to these assessments, all children in Year 1 complete the Statutory Phonics Screening Check in June which is a requirement from the Government. The purpose of the phonics screening check is to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard.

The Year 1 phonics screening check is not a formal test, but a way for teachers to ensure that children are making sufficient progress with their phonics skills to read words and that they are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning.

In order for our children at North Wootton Academy to be an outstanding reader, writer and speller, we need support from home.

We ask all children to complete reading at home and weekly spellings homework. With our younger children, this requires support from parents/carers.

Our expectation is that the children read at home for at least 10 minutes every day. From Reception, children are provided with banded reading books which match their learnt current Phonics knowledge and development.

Spelling homework is set on Spelling Shed which are linked to the current learning in Phonics which match their newly learnt GPCs.

We also provide our younger children with an online reading platform called Raz Kids.

These resources are available to be printed off to support a child.

GPCs Flashcards

Grapheme Cards

Printable Flashcards Set 1

Printable Flashcards Set 2

Printable Flashcards Set 3

Printable Flashcards Consonant Digraphs Set 4

Printable Flashcards Set 5

Printable Flashcards Vowel Digraphs Set 6

Printable Flashcards Split Vowel Digraphs Set 7

Sight Word Flashcards

Phase 2 Sight Word Flashcards

Phase 3 Sight Word Flashcards

Phase 5a Sight word Flashcards

Word Mats

Phase 2 Sight Word and Grapheme Mats

Phase 3 Sight Word and Grapheme Mats

Phase 5a Sight Word and Grapheme Mats

Phase 5b Sight Word and Grapheme Mats

 

Rhymes for letter formation – taken from Read Write Inc.

Read Write Inc Letter Formations

These are the actions and songs we use in class to support children in linking songs/actions to phonemes and graphemes. Please use these to support your child.

a	g	oo oo	w
ai	h	ou	x
ar 1	i	p	y
ar 2	ie	qu	z
b	j	r
ch	l	s
ck	m	sh
d	n	t
e	ng	th
ee or	o	u
er	oa	ue
f	oi	v

Jolly Phonics Song

 

Miss Bond’s Phoneme Videos

• Phase 2 

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As you are aware, vocabulary and language is imperative in a child’s development.

These are the words we use with the children during a Phonics lesson:

Phonics Glossary

phoneme	A phoneme is the sound that a letter makes e.g. ‘a’ for ant.
grapheme	A grapheme is the letter we write to represent the phoneme/sound.
digraph	Two letters together that make one sound, e.g. ‘ch for chip’.
trigraph	Three letters together that make one sound, e.g. ‘igh as in night’.
vowel digraph	Two vowels together that make one sound, e.g. ‘ai as in rain’.
consonant digraph	Two consonants together that make one sound,  e.g. ‘ch for chip’.
split vowel digraph	Two vowels that are split apart but still make one sound, e.g. ‘a_e in cake’.
segmenting	Segmenting is where the word is broken down into the phonemes/sounds.
blending	Blending is where the sounds are joined together to make the word.
decoding	Decoding is the process of seeing written words on a page and being able to say them out loud.
sight words	Sight words cannot be sounded out easily. They are common words that have complex spellings in them. The children need to be able to read and spell them by remembering what they look like and the spelling pattern.
high frequency words	High frequency words are common words, words that appear very often in written texts. They are a mixture of decodable words (words that can be sounded out) and tricky / exception words (words in which the English spelling code works in an unusual or uncommon way, which means the words have to be learned and recognised by sight).
cvc word	A word made up of a consonant, vowel, consonant e.g. cat.
ccvc/cvvc words	CCVC—consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant (step, spot). CVVC—consonant, vowel, vowel, consonant (red, sail).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphablocks - Information
http://www.alphablocks.tv/arp1/

Alphablocks Videos on Cbeebies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks

Phonics Bloom

https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/list/phonics-games-phase-2

Read with Fonics
https://www.readwithfonics.com/

Signed Stories

http://www.signedstories.com/

Teach your monster to read
http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

Oxford Owl
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

Spelling Shed
https://play.edshed.com/en-gb

Topmarks
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds

ICT Games
http://www.ictgames.com/phonemePopLS_v2.html

Phonics Play

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Reading Eggs

https://readingeggs.co.uk/

Read Write Inc Training Videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo7fbLgY2oA_cFCIg9GdxtQ/videos

Please take a look at the school’s policy for Early Literacy including Phonics.

Phonological Development (Phonics & Spelling) Sept 2023

If you require any further assistance with the Phonics provision at North Wootton Academy, please do not hesitate to contact the Early Literacy Co-Ordination, Mrs Emma Harley-Bond via the school office on office@nwt.eastern-mat.co.uk.