We begin teaching phonics at the start of Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey. Children begin to learn the main sounds heard in the English language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘Common Exception’ words. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. 

In Year 1, children continue their phonics journey and the children learn alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional common exception words. By the end of Year 1, children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1, all children are screened using the national phonics screening check.

In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age-related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps.

To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to keep up through bespoke 1-1 interventions.

We use an accredited phonics programme called Unlocking Letters and Sounds. Below is the progression of letters and sounds children will follow in the scheme. 

Reading Scheme

We promote a 'phonics first' approach and in both our guided reading sessions at school and in the books children take home, texts are very closely matched to a child's current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading.

In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books from Ransom Reading Stars, with whom we worked in partnership when creating Unlocking Letters and Sounds to ensure complete fidelity to the phonic progression we follow.

 

Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto our book scheme so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.