At CtS we believe that teaching phonics in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex sounds – is the most effective way of teaching young children to read and write.
We teach phonics using Read Write Inc. Phonics is taught daily and a multi-sensory approach is used to cater for the needs of all children. Children are taught to recognise letters, know the sounds they make and blend the sounds together to read words and segment the sounds in words to spell them. Words which cannot be phonetically taught are known as ‘red words’ and are learnt through sight recognition. Teachers also provide children with a variety of weekly reading books that match their phonic knowledge.
This Read Write Inc guide for parents provides lots of resources to support phonics at home and will help you with the correct pronunciation of letter sounds. You may also find the resources below helpful.
The Government has introduced a phonics screening check for all children in Year 1. The test is usually held in the first half of the Summer term when your child is in Year 1. The check is designed to inform parents and teachers about your child’s progress in phonics and help to identify if any further support is required. It comprises a list of 20 real words and 20 nonsense (alien) words. Each child will sit with a teacher they know to carry out the check. There is more information on the Oxford Owl website about the check.
Our teaching of phonics does not stop when children have completed the phonics screening check and phonics teaching continues until children have the phonics knowledge to read with fluency. Children who do not have an expected level of fluency have 1:1 reading support and pupils at the Broadway Site who are reading below age related expectations receive targeted support to accelerate their progress including the Fresh Start Read Write Inc intervention programme.
Below are some useful websites to support the teaching of phonics at home.
