English- phonics, reading & writing
English- phonics, reading & writing
Phonics
Intent
At Sudley Infant School, systematic, synthetic phonics is taught from the beginning of Reception. We value the importance of reading for enjoyment, and we recognise that this starts with the foundations of acquiring letter sounds, and segmenting and blending skills.
Implementation
In addition to daily English lessons, all children at our School receive a daily synthetic phonics lesson. We use ‘Bug Club Phonics’ to teach phonic and spelling rules systematically throughout Early Years and Key Stage One. In EYFS, we offer a multi – sensory approach to the teaching of phonics with the use of phonics songs and actions. To apply these skills, all children will get a reading book from the start of Reception, which they are encouraged to read regularly at home. These books match their current phonics level.
What is Phonics Bug
Impact
The impact of our phonic programme is measured throughout the year. We very quickly identify when children are not on track with the phonic programme via termly assessments, and progress is identified and measured. We offer targeted interventions for any children not on track. Our Phonic Screening Check results are above national average in Liverpool, and the number of children at Sudley Infant School achieving Expected Standard and Greater Depth Standard in reading is also above Liverpool average.
Year 1 Phonic Screening Check
During the summer term, children in Year 1 take part in the Phonic Screening Check. The Year 1 phonics screening check is not a formal test, but a way for teachers to ensure that children are making sufficient progress with their phonics skills to read words and that they are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning. Any children who do not get a score above a threshold mark are required to attempt the check again in the summer term of Year 2.
Phonics Screening Check 2022Articulation of Phonemes
A useful video clip showing the correct ‘pure’ pronounciation of phonemes (units of sound).
Useful websites and resources to use at home
www.phonicsplay.co.uk
This is a selection of interactive games for all phonic phases. The children particularly enjoy Obb and Bob and Buried Treasure
www.letters-and-sounds.com
This is a great website for explaining about the different phases taught in Letters and Sounds and it also has lots of simple games to play.
www.ictgames.com/literacy.html#
This is a great selection of games that link well with games in Letters and Sounds.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/
This is a very good selection of interactive games focussing on phonics and sentence construction. Each is split into medium/hard/really hard.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/
This is a mix of very good interactive games and worksheets covering most phonic phases. Recommend Sandcastle quiz for phase 3 and 5.
Reading & reading schemes
We recognise that phonics is one component of learning to read. Generating enthusiasm for reading, and reading for pleasure is our priority. Therefore, we adopt a balanced approach to reading.
Intent
At Sudley Infant School, we prioritise a love for reading above all! Reading is an essential element of all stages of education. Our inclusive curriculum ensures that all of our children will be given the very best chance, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. It is important to us that all children make progress, to meet or exceed age-related expectations. We value the importance of phonics, being able to decode, have a language-rich environment and read for pleasure.
Implementation
A rigorous approach to the teaching of reading develops learners’ confidence and enjoyment in reading. At the early stages of learning, both phonic knowledge and language comprehension are both necessary to read.
We begin teaching reading from day one in Reception. We use a mixture of big books, Bug Club and other reading books to foster a love for books and reading. Children are given reading books to take home within the first month of starting, following assessments of basic skills.
Individual Reading
We are very fortunate at Sudley Infant School to have over 30 different reading schemes, including fully decodable books from phase 1 to 6, and story books. Listed below are some of the reading schemes used in school:
Bug Club, Story World, New Way, Ginn 360, Oxford Reading Tree, Cambridge Reading, Eye Witness Readers, Alpha World, Giggle and Grin, The Book Project, Dominoes, Through the Rainbow, Hummingbirds, One Two Three and Away, Four Corners, Sunshine Books, All Abroad, Flying Boot, Story Chest, Open Door, Supersonics, Happy Venture, Jolly Phonics, Spirals, Foundations, First Stories, Griffin, Big Cat, Read, Write Inc, Songbirds, Sails, Badger Books, Tree tops, Project X, Bangers & Mash and more.
The sequence of reading books shows a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to our school’s phonics programme, although all pupils will follow their own bespoke reading journey. Teachers give pupils sufficient practice in reading and rereading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both at school and at home. All children will follow their own unique reading journey and will have an opportunity to read books with different genre from a variety of reading schemes. We ensure our children’s reading books match the sounds they know, via frequent, individual reading with the teacher, correlating with the Phonics assessments we undertake.
Reading Areas
We have recently developed our reading areas in each classroom in order to engage the children further. We held a competition, judged by our school council.
Reading Areas 2021
Our Library
We value the importance of reading for pleasure, so we have a huge amount of non-reading scheme books that the children can choose from. We also use ‘Bug Club’ which is an online reading scheme which children can access at home via the Active Learn website. These books are very interactive and loved by children and parents. Recently, due to a donation from SIPFA, we have been able to buy lots of new hard back books to add to our library.
Bug Club
We also use ‘Bug Club’ which is an online reading scheme children can access in school and at home via the Active Learn website. These books are very interactive and loved by children and parents.
What is Bug ClubBug Club information for parents
Click here to log in to Bug Club using your username and password.
Special Events
We hold special reading events, to highlight the importance of books. For example, our Reading is Magic Festival and World Book Day. Every week, we have special visitors to our school… two Shetland Ponies, who love to be read to!
Impact
Our prioritisation of reading at Sudley Infant School, has led to our children having a love for reading, and achieving Expected Standard and Greater Depth in reading which is consistently above the Liverpool average.
Reading briefing for parents 2021-2022
Reception Reading 2021Year 1 Reading guidance 2021
Year 2 Reading guidance 2021
10 Tips on listening to your child read
Writing
We teach an ambitious and broad English Curriculum.
Intent
Our English curriculum is a stand-alone topic, however, where appropriate we have made cross-curricular links with the topic we are focusing on. All topics have been selected with the children and our local area in mind, thus inspiring children’s curiosity and promoting a love of learning.
Implementation
We ensure that the children in each year group are taught the explicit grammar, punctuation and spelling objectives required for their key stage, in line with the 2014 National Curriculum. We base our writing activities on a combination of the Hamilton Trust scheme, and the needs of individual year groups. Hamilton’s resources cover all aspects of English, including SPAG, within the context of a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry genres.
In Reception, our English Curriculum is completed through both formal lessons and activities planned within the continuous provision. The children focus on a number of skills to prepare them for writing, including fine motor sessions, dough discos and various other pupil-initiated activities.
In Year 1, the children continue to practise and develop their writing skills with a focus on how to write ‘golden sentences’ for a number of purposes.
In Year 2, the children continue to build upon the skills previously learnt, and develop their understanding of the English language. They are able to adapt their writing to suit a genre, effectively proof reading their own work.
Handwriting
We use the PenPals for Handwriting program. Children only begin to join their writing when they are ready to do so. In addition to teaching handwriting during our regular weekly handwriting lessons, we have high expectations that what is taught and practiced in handwriting lessons will be used in all writing activities.
Information about writing posture
Impact
Our writing curriculum is high quality, well thought out, and is planned to demonstrate progression, meeting the needs of every child and promoting high standards. In recent Pupil Voice Surveys, all children stated that they enjoyed our English lessons, especially the use of puppets, special visitors, acting and drama.
Grammar Guide for Parents & Carers 2021
Vocabulary list for parents 2021