Phonics

Intent

At West Town Primary, we recognise reading as a key life skill, which underpins access to the rest of the curriculum. We aim for children to read words and simple sentences by the end of Reception, become successful, fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1, whilst developing a lifelong love of reading as they move through school.

The systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is given a high priority throughout Early Years and Key Stage 1. Children need to learn key phonics knowledge and develop skills in segmenting and blending to complete the phonics check at the end of Year 1 and as part of developing fluency in reading. We also value and encourage pupils to read for pleasure and recognise that this starts with the foundations of acquiring letter sounds, segmenting, and blending skills – enjoying success and gaining confidence from a positive experience.

• By the end of Reception, the aim is for all children to have a secure understanding of Letters and Sounds, Phases 2, 3 and 4 in the end to be able to segment and blend words within these phases.
• The aim in Year 1 is to ensure all children have completed and are secure in Phase 5 and be ready to begin the Spelling programme upon entry into Year 2.

Implementation of Phonics at West Town Primary Academy:

Phonics is the name given to the process of learning the sounds, names and shapes of the letters that make up the English language. There are 44 different sounds, made up of singular or groups of letters. Some of these sounds have a variety of ways to write them down.

At West Town Primary, children in Reception and Year 1 are taught phonics daily following Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression.  We use decodable texts to embed the learning of phonics into reading development. 

Both children and adults use some key vocabulary:  

Phoneme – the smallest unit of sound a letter, or group of letters makes. 

Grapheme – the written shape of a phoneme 

Digraphs and Trigraphs – two or three letters making one sound 

Blend – two or more sounds said closely together e.g. spl, fl, xt, ump

Children in Reception are taught handwriting and letter formation alongside their phonic learning. Children are taught the Little Wandle Rhymes to support the correct letter formation. 

For further resources and guidance, please visit Little Wandle Parent/Carers page.

The Year 1 phonics screening check and Alien words

At the end of Year one the children will sit the ‘Phonics Screening Check’.  This is a national and compulsory assessment, which the government uses to assess children’s phonic knowledge.  It comprises of a list of 40 words which check the child’s ability to apply their phonic knowledge to a group of unfamiliar words. Alien words are ‘nonsense words’ that the children must carefully Fred talk and blend to read the word. ‘Nonsense words’ are an important part of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

For example: chort (ch-or-t) zewpy (z-ew-p-y)

For more information please ask your class teacher or watch the informational video below: