Phonics

At Belton CE Primary school we aim to ensure high-quality phonics teaching in EYFS and KS1 to give all children a solid base upon which to build as they progress through school and to help children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.

As a school we have chosen ‘Twinkl Phonics’ as our validated scheme.

Intent

At Belton CE Primary we use Twinkl Phonics as it offers a coherently planned sequence of lessons that supports the effective teaching of phonics within EYFS, KS1 and, where appropriate, KS2. Throughout Level 1, young learners develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to discriminate between and use auditory, environmental and instrumental sounds. Level 1 is taught in the EYFS at our feeder nursery and preschool settings using other validated schemes. At Belton CE Primary reception children work within Levels 2-4. Here learners are introduced to phonemes/sounds and graphemes/letters systematically. They also learn to develop and apply blending and segmenting skills for reading and writing. Within KS1, children work within Levels 5 and 6. The coherently planned sequence of lessons within Level 5 allows opportunities for children to apply their phonics knowledge and skills as the prime approach to reading and spelling. It focuses on phonetically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words and the alternative ways of pronouncing and representing the long vowel phonemes. Furthermore, children will develop their ability to attempt to read and spell increasingly complex words. By Level 6, children explore spelling patterns and grammar while also developing a breadth of knowledge, skills and understanding in the recognition and spelling of common exception words. With this scheme we not only provide children with opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding essential for reading and writing, but also, to develop each child’s confidence, resilience and engagement in phonics lessons and a love for reading and writing.

Implementation:

The progression map helps staff to track pupil’s progress. It provides opportunities for data analysis and encourages discussions around pupil progress, group progress, future learning and misconceptions, enabling us to respond and adapt teaching within the programme to provide additional support and challenge to pupils (see assessment schedule) Lessons are dynamic and use engaging materials within Levels 2-6 to ensure a clearly defined structure to the teaching of phonics. The direct teacher-led lessons enable all learners to develop and apply new skills while also providing opportunities to further apply these skills within fun and engaging activities and through continuous provision.

 Impact

The impact of using Twinkl Phonics as the basis of phonics teaching within EYFS and KS1, will be for children to develop their phonics skills and knowledge through a systematic, synthetic approach, while covering the statutory requirements outlined in the 2014 National Curriculum. The programme will prepare children for the statutory year 1 phonics screening check. The programme gives a consistent approach to phonics, which is clear to teaching staff and learners. Parental engagement can also be improved through the use of the parent guidance sheets. These are handed out weekly in EYFS as sounds are taught (phase 2-4) and then to be made available on the school website for all phases.

The main aim is for children to develop their fluency as a reader and increase their accuracy when spelling.  Spelling strategies including homophones (word specific spellings) e.g. see/sea and spelling of words with prefixes and suffixes, doubling and dropping letters where necessary.  Also, the accurate spelling of words containing unusual grapheme-phoneme correspondences e.g. laughs, two are also taught.  From Year 3 onwards phonics continues to be taught to those that have been identified as needing extra phonics intervention. This information will initially be passed on at the end of the year through transition meetings. Year 3 staff will then continue to identify any phonics gaps through timely assessment.

Once children are secure in phase/level 6 spelling is then further enhanced by Jason Wade’s Rainbow Spelling strategies ‘Sounds and Syllables’ which closely mimics earlier phonics teaching where whole words are segmented (or ‘snipped’ into syllables) and letters are selected to represent those phonemes.

 

Jason Wade’s Sounds and Syllables (see spelling document) continue to be used through to the end of KS2, ensuring a seamless school spelling program which complements early phonics learning.  The spelling of high frequency and tricky words are taught continuously throughout all year groups.  

 

It was lovely to see so many parents attend our whole school spelling and phonics morning. It was our pleasure to show you how we are using Twinkl Phonics and Sound and Syllables to support spelling and reading in our school. We hope you found the take home sound mats useful, if you require anymore supporting resources please take a look below or speak to your childs class teacher. Thank you for all your lovely feedback too. 
 
" Great session. Great understanding of alien words"
"Getting to see how they learn. Its sometimes suprising to see how my daughter jumps forward in knowledge. But i can see how it works now"
"Really fun and engaging"
"Very informative and useful, I learnt new things too"
"Thinking about how spellings can be broken up in to sounds and syllables has been useful"
"This session has made it easier to help upport homework"
"Love the Twinkl Scheme. It works so well that the actions match the letter formation"
Phonics in EYFS and KS1
Spellings in KS2