How we teach phonics

Implementation

Whole-class teaching of phonics is planned inline with the Red Rose Letters and Sounds scheme.  This format includes the revisit and review, teach, practise, and apply elements to lessons.  To ensure the children are constantly recapping on previously taught sounds (and blending), learning new sounds, and applying new skills through blending to read and segmenting to spell.  All plans are provided within the scheme and provide children with active learning opportunities, opportunities to blend to read and segment to spell with high frequency words and tricky words taught within the lessons. All reading books have been matched to the phonics phases in our teaching.

In addition all classrooms in school have alphabetic code posters displayed to refer to and use whenever there are opportunities for incidental learning. 

From the beginning of Reception and KS1 phonics is taught as a discrete lesson every day for at least 25 minutes following the school’s systematic, synthetics programme.  The structure of each lesson at John Cross and the journey of phonics across the week enables all aspects of the blending and segmenting of phonemes/graphemes; lessons are  planned and tailored to meet the needs of all our learners.

Reception

We teach phonics for 25 minutes daily.  After assessments at the end of Phase 2, we differentiate groups to ensure children are reaching their full potential and appropriate support is given.  Our aim is that children will be secure at Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 by the end of reception. 

Year 1

Children continue to be taught with the Red Rose Letters & Sounds programme as they enter into Year 1, reviewing Phase 4 and completing Phase 5 by the end of year 1.  The children’s assessments are passed on from reception and teachers plan accordingly to meet the children’s needs.  The children are grouped into ability groups where required based upon  phonics tracking data and teacher assessments in reading. The children will be introduced to more activities including the reading of nonsense words so they are familiar with these in readiness for their screening check in the summer term.