Phonics
At Ellwood Community Primary School, we believe that reading is at the heart of the children’s learning. It is an essential life skill that children need to be able to access the whole curriculum and become lifelong learners. We believe that learning to read and reading for pleasure transforms children’s lives.
'The Foundations of Reading, Spelling and Writing for Every Child'
Floppy's Phonics Programme
The Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics systematic synthetic phonics programme provides you with all the structure and resources you need to deliver really effective synthetic phonics teaching for all children – as well as enriching their vocabulary and language comprehension.
Floppy’s Phonics is in line with the Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) teaching principles described in the ‘English programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2 – National curriculum in England’ and the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage [EYFS].
'High Frequency Words' and 'Helpful Words'
Alongside each phonic phase there are sets of ‘helpful words’ that children will need to learn by sight. These are words that are not able to be phonetically sounded out.
EYFS, KS1 and KS2 children are given words to learn by sight relevant to their attainment. In each year group there is a list of common exception words, which children will learn at school.
Reading books will be given to children from Reception through to Year 6. Reading books are graded and are matched to the phonic ability of your child. This system allows children to choose a book at an appropriate level for them and means that our pupils have more choice about what they read, hopefully leading to increased enthusiasm for reading. Children should be able to read their home reading books with approximately 95% fluency.
Individual Reading Books - Key Stage 1
The reading books are separated into levels (1-12).
To ensure books are matched closely to the children's phonics attainment, books in levels 1-5 have been sorted into sets. Each set contains specific sounds, children progress through the sets inline with our phonics programme.
Each week children in Reception and Year 1 are able to take home a 'Phonics Book', that included sounds taught in school that week. Children are encouraged to read this book frequently to support their reading fluency and to consolidate sounds taught at school.
Individual Reading
We endeavour to hear the children read independently as often as possible. This maybe during guided reading sessions or reading texts linked to other subjects throughout the school day. This type of reading maybe linked to theme work.
Phonics in Reception and Year 1 is taught every day. It is also incorporated into English and spelling lessons. Children who are finding phonics challenging are given extra support and intervention, as and when needed, regardless of the year group they are in.
Year 2
Spellings are taught 3 times a week
Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening in Year 1 will receive 'Phonics Keep Up sessions'.
As part of our ongoing aim to ensure all children at Ellwood School become lifelong readers we have introduced a sharing library for the children to select stories which can be enjoyed at home alongside their 'levelled reading book'.
As these stories are richer reading opportunities they are to be shared with parents and do not have to be read independently due to the complexity of the text. Your child may like to help retell the story, have a go at blending some words or find helpful words within the text.