'Phonics' is a way of teaching children how to read and write by understanding the sounds of letters and groups of letters. Think of it like cracking a code! Children learn to:

Recognise the sounds that individual letters make (like 's' says /s/, 'a' says /a/, 't' says /t/).
Identify sounds that combinations of letters make (like 'sh' says /sh/ and 'ai' says /ai/).
Blend these sounds together from left to right to read a word (like /s/ /a/ /t/ becomes 'sat').

By learning phonics, children can sound out and read new words, helping them become confident and fluent readers. It also helps them to spell words by breaking them down into their individual sounds.

Intent

At Leigh Academy Paddock Wood, we believe that developing strong foundational English skills is crucial for our children to become confident, capable, and engaged learners. Our intent for phonics teaching is to equip all children with a robust understanding of the alphabetic code and effective decoding and encoding strategies.

Through a systematic, explicit, and engaging approach, we aim to develop a strong foundation for lifelong literacy. We will foster a love of language and reading by enabling children to independently access and comprehend a wide range of texts. By mastering phonics skills, children will be empowered to decode words accurately and fluently, enabling them to read with comprehension and express their ideas effectively in writing. We will encourage children to explore the patterns and structures of language through investigation, questioning, and making connections. We will provide targeted and adapted instruction and support to ensure all children, regardless of their starting points, can achieve success in phonics. We will make meaningful connections between phonics skills and the broader curriculum, allowing children to apply their knowledge in authentic contexts. We will also encourage children to learn from and support each other, building their confidence and communication skills. We will help children appreciate how language works and its role in communication, expression, and understanding the world around them.

By achieving these aims, we strive to develop internationally-minded children who are articulate communicators, critical thinkers, and active participants in their learning journey within the context of literacy development.

Implementation

We believe that developing strong foundational English skills is crucial for our children to become lifelong learners and active participants in a global society. Our phonics program (Phonics International) is an integral part of our language curriculum. We aim to cultivate a love of language while equipping children with the essential decoding and encoding skills necessary for reading and writing success.

We foster a spirit of inquiry within our phonics lessons, encouraging children to explore the patterns and rules of the English language through active investigation, questioning, and hands-on activities. Teachers facilitate learning by posing engaging questions and providing opportunities for children to discover phonetic relationships. Our phonics curriculum is underpinned by key literacy concepts such as sound-symbol correspondence, blending, segmenting, and word structure. These concepts are explicitly taught and then explored through various contexts, allowing children to develop a deep understanding rather than rote memorisation. ‘Tricky Words’ are introduced steadily throughout the programme. We strive to make phonics learning meaningful and relevant by connecting it to authentic reading and writing experiences. Phonics skills are taught explicitly and reinforced within the context of shared reading, independent reading, and writing activities, ensuring children understand the practical application of their learning.

Recognising the diverse learning needs of all our children, we provide adapted instructions and support to ensure all learners can access and succeed in our phonics program. We utilise a range of strategies, resources, and groupings to cater to individual learning styles and paces. We actively seek opportunities to integrate phonics learning with other subject areas across the curriculum. For example, exploring the sounds and spellings of words related to a science unit or a social studies inquiry can deepen understanding and reinforce learning across disciplines. We encourage collaboration and communication among children during phonics activities. Through partner work, group tasks, and sharing ideas, children learn from each other and develop their ability to articulate their understanding of phonetic concepts.

We employ a variety of formative and summative assessment strategies to monitor children's progress in phonics. This data informs our teaching and allows us to provide timely and targeted support. We also encourage children’s self-reflection on their learning and progress.

We value the partnership with parents and carers in supporting their child's phonics development. We provide information and resources to enable families to reinforce phonics learning at home and encourage a love of reading.

Our academy follows a systematic and synthetic phonics (SSP) approach called ‘Phonics International’, which is DfE validated. This program provides a structured and sequential approach to teaching phoneme-grapheme correspondences (PGCs) and the skills of blending and segmenting.

The program introduces new sounds and their corresponding spellings in a logical order and teaches children how to put individual sounds together to read words. It also teaches children how to break down words into individual sounds for spelling. Providing ample opportunities for children to apply their phonics knowledge in reading and writing activities is key to ensuring the children can use phonics across all areas. We also ensure children have access to books that primarily contain the sounds and spellings they have been taught, building confidence and fluency. We regularly assess children’s progress to identify areas of strength and areas needing further support.

Phonics International provides a strong foundation in phonics that is essential for developing reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Through this program children develop a deeper understanding of how language works through exploring phonetic concepts and patterns. By equipping children with effective decoding and encoding strategies, we empower them to become independent readers and writers.

Through this comprehensive approach to phonics instruction, we aim to empower our children to become confident and proficient readers and writers, fostering a lifelong love of language and learning.

Impact

We recognise that a strong foundation in phonics is not merely about decoding words; it is the bedrock upon which confident readers, effective communicators, and lifelong learners are built. Our phonics program, aligned with the inquiry-based nature of the PYP, has a significant and multifaceted impact on our children.

Regular explicit and systematic phonics teaching equips children with the essential skills to decode unfamiliar words accurately and efficiently, and to encode their thoughts and ideas in written form with increasing confidence. This empowers them to access a wider range of texts and express themselves effectively. As children become proficient in phonics, their reading fluency naturally improves. This allows them to focus on understanding the meaning of the text, fostering deeper comprehension and a genuine love for reading. This in turn allows for a robust understanding of phonics patterns and rules and directly contributes to improved spelling accuracy, enabling children to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently in writing.

Success in reading and writing through a strong phonics foundation builds children’s confidence and self-esteem, impacting their overall well-being and engagement in learning. A systematic phonics approach provides all children with the foundational skills necessary to access the rest of the curriculum, regardless of their prior experiences or learning styles, promoting equity and inclusion. A strong grounding in phonics lays a crucial foundation for success in later stages of education and beyond, equipping children with essential literacy skills for lifelong learning and active citizenship.

In conclusion, our phonics program, embedded within the National Curriculum and the PYP framework, is not just about teaching sounds and letters. It is about empowering our children with the fundamental English skills, nurturing essential PYP attitudes and learner profile attributes, and fostering a lifelong love of language and learning. The impact of a strong phonics foundation resonates throughout their primary years and beyond, shaping them into confident, capable, and engaged global citizens.

What we do at LAPW...

We proudly utilise the Phonics International scheme, a DfE validated, systematic synthetic phonics programme, ensuring a consistent and comprehensive approach to teaching the alphabetic code. To foster a strong home-academy partnership, we regularly host Parent Workshops, empowering families to support their child's phonics journey. For those who require additional support, we implement 1:1 precision teaching to meticulously address any individual gaps in knowledge, ensuring every child receives targeted intervention. Our dedicated LAT EYFS Curriculum Advisors provide expert guidance and oversight, ensuring the highest standards of phonics delivery within the Early Years Foundation Stage. Furthermore, we explicitly teach Phonological Awareness skills to help narrow any pre-existing gaps, providing a strong foundation for phonics learning and enabling all children to become confident and fluent readers.

KS1 Phonics Screening Check.pdf

KS1 Phonics Screening Check

At LAPW, we believe that learning to read is an exciting adventure! We teach reading through phonics, which is all about understanding the sounds in words and the letters that represent them.

In Year 1, your child will take part in a short and friendly assessment called the Phonics Screening Check. This helps us see how well they are using their phonics skills to read words. It's nothing to worry about – it's just a way for us to make sure every child is getting the support they need to become a confident and enthusiastic reader! We'll be working hard in class to build these skills in a fun and engaging way.

Click on the picture on the left for more information on the Phonics Screening Check.

Phonics Glossary

Click on the picture to the right to learn the definitions of the different words.

Phonics Glossary.pdf

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