At Kingswood, we follow the Letters and Sounds scheme of phonics teaching, in conjunction with Jolly Phonics,  to ensure there is a clear progression of sounds taught. Each child in Reception and Year1 has a daily, minimum 25-minute phonics lesson, following the teaching sequence of revisit/ review – teach – practise - apply. In Year 2, children access a balance of both phonics and spelling punctuation and grammar (SPAG) lessons based on their individual needs and attainment.

 

Reception and KS1 children are taught as a whole class, with additional phonics intervention groups if needed,  based on regular assessments so that children’s learning needs are accurately matched to the correct provision.

 

In a session, children are taught either phonemes/ digraphs/ trigraphs, high frequency and/or tricky words and these are consolidated through reading and writing. There are lots of opportunities to speak and listen, as well as to read and write the sounds.

 

At the end of Year 1 children have to take the national Phonics  Screening Check which tests children’s phonics knowledge. Here, they are required to read real and nonsense words, applying the skills they have learnt. Ideally children will have completed and consolidated Phase 5 during Year 1 and Phase 6 during Year 2, so that they can focus more on higher-level comprehension using increasingly challenging texts. Any child that does not complete the phonics programme will continue learning phonics throughout Year 3/4 during interventions.  

Reception and Year 1 teachers led phonics information workshops to parents. The staff outlined how phonics is taught at Kingswood and how parents can support their children.  More information can be found on the links below.