Phonics
Phonics Intent
At St Mark’s, we love reading and we recognise that the reading ability of a child has a massive impact on how well they can access the whole curriculum.
We use the highly successful Read Write Inc Phonics programme to teach our children to become fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. Read Write Inc., developed by Ruth Miskin, provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching literacy. It is used by more than a quarter of the UK’s primary schools and is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers.
Our aim is for all pupils to develop a love of reading, a good knowledge of a range of authors, and be able to understand more about the world through the knowledge they gain from texts. We provide language-rich classroom environments and a curriculum where children are exposed to, and actively engage with, high quality language in varying forms in a meaningful, deliberate and engaging way.
Phonics in EYFS
We use Read Write Inc. to teach phonics and graphic knowledge (common exception words and tricky words).
From the second week of starting school, children in Reception begin letter sound correspondence. The children learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. They:
- 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-fiction books matched to their phonic knowledge.
- Work well with partners.
- Develop comprehension skills in stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions.
Set 1
Sets 2 and 3
Fred Talk
We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
At school, we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! We call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.
See more: YouTube: How to teach blending to children
We regularly hold parent workshops to support early reading in EYFS, here is an example of a recent parent workshop:
Phonics in KS1
In KS1 children follow the same format as Reception and are grouped according to their phonics ability and will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. In Year 1 and for children working below the expected level in Year 2, daily sessions of RWI phonics last for 45 minutes.
In Reception and KS1, a second speed sound session is completed throughout the day to practice and rehearse sound knowledge as a whole class.