Reading and Phonics
Our Approach to the Teaching of Phonics
Every child deserves success right from the start. We know that the sooner children learn to read, the greater their success at school. This is why we put reading at the very heart of what we do.
We follow the DfE “Letters and Sounds” programme, using “Jolly Phonics” as our tool for an immersive approach to teaching synthetic phonics. With songs, catchy mnemonics and fun games to play in order to teach and consolidate taught sounds, we strive to give each child access to teaching which fits to their learning style.
Jolly Phonics is a comprehensive programme, based on the proven, fun and multi-sensory synthetic phonics method that gets children reading and writing from an early age. This means that we teach letter sounds as opposed to the alphabet. These 42 letter sounds are phonic building blocks that children, with the right tools, use to decode the English language. When reading a word, they recognise the letters and blend together the respective sounds; when writing a word they identify the sounds and write down the corresponding letters. These skills are known as blending and segmenting and we teach them alongside each other right from the beginning of Reception.
Our Approach to the Teaching of Reading
In Key Stage 1, we use a wide range of books from different reading schemes which we have carefully matched and sequenced to their “Letters and Sounds” phase. This ensures that each child can access a wide range of phonetically decodable books, which are closely matched to their phonic ability, to read from and enjoy. Within our timetable, we are committed to providing independent and/or supported reading time on a daily basis and every child’s progress is closely monitored.
Over the course of the year, the children will listen to a range of stories and poems, learning to join in with repeated phrases, for example, in traditional tales and also sharing information in non-fiction books. At Aycliffe Village Primary School, teachers use their subject knowledge to link books to other areas of the curriculum where this is appropriate and develop a range of reading and writing activities for the children to explore and enjoy.
You can help your child by making sure they bring their book bag into school every day and by listening to them read at home. If you have any questions, or require any support with this, then please ask your child’s class teacher.
