Phonics

Intent

At Eaton Valley Primary School, we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy skills. The RWI scheme will allow children to learn the key sounds, apply these to words and use these skills in reading and spelling whist working in smaller groups. The lessons give the children time to practise and apply the phonics skills.

The Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:

Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about
Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning
Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability
Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning
Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally

Implementation

All children are assessed regularly by our RWI lead teacher so they work with children at the same level. This allows complete participation in lessons.

The children:

learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
work well with partners
develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Fastest Finger' and 'Have a Think' discussion questions

Reception:

In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

Year One & Year Two:

Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. The four sessions a week of RWI phonics last for 30 minutes a day with an additional session based on applying the skills in a spelling session.

Impact

The national phonics screening check is a statutory assessment that was introduced in 2012 to all Year One pupils and is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonic skills and knowledge learnt through Reception and Year One. Your child will read one-to-one with their teacher. Your child will read up to 4 words per page and the check will last approximately 10 – 15 minutes. They will be asked to ‘sound out’ a word and blend the sounds together. The check is very similar to the tasks the children already complete during phonic lessons.

Throughout their Phonics Teaching and Learning it will ensure that children develop:

Knowledge of the different sounds – phonemes and graphemes.
Fluency in reading.
The ability to blend sounds together to decode words
The ability to segment words into sounds to aid spelling.
A strong awareness of High Frequency and Common Exception words – at an age appropriate level.
The ability to use and apply key phonics sounds.
Independence in their reading and writing due to key skills taught.