Phonics

Intent

At Fairways Primary School, we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. It is essential that our approach to teaching Phonics is accessible to all learners, regardless of background. At Fairways, we believe that all of our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic Phonics programme. We ensure that children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering Phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all of our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Fairways, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through Phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the Phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Implementation
Daily Phonics Lessons

• We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
• We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
  • Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
  • Children in Year 1 review Phases 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
  • Children in Year 2 review Phase 5 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
  • Some children in Year 3 review Phase 5 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

Daily Keep-Up Lessons

• Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult.              Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
• These short, sharp lessons last 15-20 minutes daily and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in Reading.
   

Daily Reading Practice Sessions

• The children read books that are matched to their secure Phonic knowledge
• The Reading Practice Sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
  • decoding
  • prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
  • comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

Impact

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.

• Assessment for learning is used:
  • daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
  • weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.
     
• Summative assessment:
  • Every six weeks to assess progress, identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy. Children develop confidence in transferring their Phonics skills to support their reading and writing across the curriculum. Our aim is for children to become fluent readers with a real passion for Reading and Writing.