English (Phonics and Spelling)
Phonics Intent
Through the systematic teaching of reading and spelling, we intend to create an inclusive learning environment that caters for all backgrounds, needs and abilities. This environment will enable raised standards of reading and writing so that every child makes good progress. We aim to create a love of learning through well-planned, fun, engaging and multi-sensory Phonic lessons that enable the children to use their phonic knowledge to blend and segment phonetically decodable words, read and write more complex words and use phonics to write clearly, accurately and coherently,
Our Phonics curriculum aims to develop resilient learners who have fostered a love of reading and writing, learn from their mistakes, enjoy being challenged and who feel equipped to lead their own learning.
Phonics Implementation in EYFS & KS1
At Featherbank, our Synthetic Phonics Programme follows Letters and Sounds and uses Bug Club Phonics for decodable materials and resources. We have tailored the scheme with our own resources for flashcards, friezes and sound mats and have a comprehensive week by week long term plan.
Synthetic phonics teaching is taught on a daily basis in EYFS and throughout Key Stage One to support reading and writing. The definition of ‘synthetic phonics’ is an accelerated form of phonics where children are taught all letter sounds very quickly after starting school. This method of teaching continues throughout Key Stage One, where children continue to extend their learning to using digraphs and trigraphs. Pupils are taught phonics through isolated sessions, but phonics also forms part of all English lessons, supporting children’s reading and writing.
The Year One Phonics Screening Check takes place in June, but children who have not yet met the required standards continue phonics beyond this. Additional teaching is facilitated where required for individuals or small groups.
The Featherbank Phonics approach includes a regular and robust assessment cycle which informs immediate and longer term interventions as well as weekly guided reading sessions, ensuring children are practised in using their phonic skills to read sentences.
Children who are not making expected progress are given additional practice, immediately, through catch-up sessions through the week. New teaching occurs on Monday to Thursday. Friday is an assessment and revision lesson containing more reading and writing using the skills taught through the week.
A lesson:
Each lesson at Featherbank follows the four part lesson structure set out by Letters and Sounds.
Within each lesson part, there is a set sequence of activities that the children follow.
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Review/Revisit |
Review
Revisit
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Teach |
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Practise |
Oral blending: Teacher will say 3 – 5 words for Oral blending. Blending for reading: Following a ‘my turn’, ‘our turn’, ‘your turn’ sequence, the children will blend phonemes to read words. Segmenting for spelling: Following a ‘my turn’, ‘our turn’, ‘your turn’ sequence the children will segment words into phonemes which they will spell with graphemes. |
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Apply |
Children complete an ‘apply’ activity (either on whiteboards on the carpet or with pencils at the table) which will have reading and writing opportunities. Application opportunities are always available in both inside and outside learning environments. |
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Further Application |
Every week, the children will have the following application opportunities:
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Please see the attached Featherbanks Phonics Progression for exact week by week progression of teaching.
Phonics is taught over six overlapping phases. The table below is a summary based on the Letters and Sounds guidance for practitioners and teachers:
Phase |
Phonic Knowledge and Skills |
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Phase One (Nursery/Reception) |
Activities are divided into seven aspects, including environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and finally oral blending and segmenting. |
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Phase Two (Reception) up to 6 weeks |
Learning 19 letters of the alphabet and one sound for each. Blending sounds together to make words. Segmenting words into their separate sounds. Beginning to read simple captions. |
| Phase Three (Reception) up to 12 weeks | The remaining 7 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each. Graphemes such as ch, oo, th representing the remaining phonemes not covered by single letters. Reading captions, sentences and questions. On completion of this phase, children will have learnt the "simple code", i.e. one grapheme for each phoneme in the English language. |
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Phase Four (Reception) 4 to 6 weeks |
No new grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught in this phase. Children learn to blend and segment longer words with adjacent consonants, e.g. swim, clap, jump. |
| Phase Five (Throughout Year 1) | Now we move on to the "complex code". Children learn more graphemes for the phonemes which they already know, plus different ways of pronouncing the graphemes they already know. |
| Phase Six (Throughout Year 2 and beyond) | Working on spelling, including prefixes and suffixes, doubling and dropping letters etc. |
Reading
At Featherbank, all children in Reception and Year One and children in Year Two (who are reading decodable books) have decodable guided reading sessions three times a week. Each session has a clear objective: the three-lesson cycle focuses on either decoding, fluency or comprehension. Each group is matched to the children's current GPC level, and the children are moved to the next set as soon as they are able. The children read decodable Bug Club books. After the three-day cycle of in-class guided reading, these books are sent home for daily reading.
Phonics for spelling in Key Stage 2
At Featherbank, we believe that Phonics should be embedded throughout every Key Stage in order to appropriately embed the complex alphabetic code of the English language. The skill of oral segmenting for spelling (starting with syllable chunking in multi-syllable words) continues into Key Stage Two where we make it explicit that this spelling skill is a life skill for effective spelling.
We have created a synthetic Phonics approach to spelling in Key Stage Two. Following on from Letters and Sounds and using the National Curriculum guidance. We have our own lesson plans and resources for flashcards, friezes and sound mats. The 'Phonics for Spelling' approach includes a regular assessment cycle which informs immediate and longer term interventions. Children who are not keeping-up with their peers are given additional practice through weekly spelling interventions designed by the Phonics Lead and carried out by trained support staff.
Throughout all written work, children are taught to proof read for errors, use dictionaries to support their spelling, develop mnemonics for aiding memory and learn about how to use etymology and morphology to help with spelling. We also use home spelling lists, word banks, spelling mats and other resources to support the correct application of spelling. Additional teaching is facilitated where required for individuals or small groups.