Phonics

Phonics Teaching at Woodchurch CE Primary School

At Woodchurch CE Primary School, our children learn to read and write effectively using the Little Wandle Programme.

We aim to create a love for reading, writing and spelling through a consistent approach to phonics teaching and learning. We aim for children to become enthusiastic and motivated about reading, by developing a confidence in phonics.

Our aim is to build reciprocity between phonics, reading and writing and for every child to leave Woodchurch with the knowledge and skills of an outstanding reader, writer and speller.

Following this progression, children will begin formal teaching of phonics early in the Autumn Term in F2. We begin with phase 2, where all children will learn the phonemes for the corresponding grapheme. Initially, children begin with the single sounds before progressing onto learning digraphs and trigraphs. When learning the phonemes, children will learn mnemonics and mantras that work alongside. These allow children to remember them and apply them in their reading and writing.

As children develop their knowledge and understanding of phonics, alternative pronunciations and spellings will be introduced in Year 1 allowing children to ‘grow the code’. They then move onto spelling rules in Year 2.

Phonics is delivered daily as an explicit lesson in EYFS and KS1. Phonics is taught as a whole class approach to ensure that quality first teaching is accessible to all children. Children are then assessed half-termly on their knowledge which is then used as the basis for keep up interventions to help narrow the gap between the cohort. Children are taught tricky words linking to the phonics progression and understanding as to why these are tricky is also taught. This allows our children to have a deeper understanding of these and apply this in their reading and writing.

Children take part in three reading sessions a week with a trained adult. During these sessions they read a phonetically decodable book based at the child's individual level. Children read this book focusing on decoding, prosody and comprehension. They will then take home two reading books: their phonically decodable reading practice book which has been the focus of their reading sessions, and a TeamRead book to share with their team at home.