At St Silas CE Primary School, we follow the Read Write Inc. programme for the teaching of phonics.

In Early Years, children are introduced to the simple alphabetic code and learn one way of representing each sound. During Key Stage 1, children are given opportunities to build on and develop their phonic knowledge, by applying previously learnt graphemes and exploring alternative representations of phonemes and graphemes.

Phonics sessions take place daily in small focused groups for all Reception and Key Stage 1 children. Children in Pre-Nursery and Nursery have daily exposure to stories, songs, poems and sounds in their classroom environment along with small group intervention.

Within a daily phonics session, children are taught how to:

• Read a new sound

• Recognise new and familiar taught sounds

• Write a new grapheme

• Read words containing the new sound and familiar taught sounds

• Spell words containing the new sound and familiar taught sounds

The phonics leader in school is responsible for ensuring that all children make the expected progress in their journey of learning to read. At the end of each half term the children completes a short phonics assessment which ensures each child is making progress and allows for any identification of gaps or extra support needed.

During the summer term all Year 1 children complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check. Any child who does not reach the national standard at the end of Year 1 is given extra support during Year 2 to help them achieve the national standard at the end of Key Stage 1.

We fully believe that children learn best when they are given opportunities to practise their new learning at home. We work very closely with our parents to ensure that they have the knowledge and resources to support their children. We hold a number of phonics workshops throughout the year, which are always well attended. We also provide resources to support parents and carers at home.