Phonics

Teaching Phonics

At Holly Grove School, we teach Phonics through 3 of our curriculum pathways: Formal, Semi-formal and EYFS curriculum.

We have adopted ‘Phonics Bug’ programme to introduce and teach phonics. This features heavily throughout our English Curriculum to help develop and link skills in Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing. Pupils are assessed twice a year using ‘Phonics Tracker’ to assess which Phase they are working at. Pupils who are showing a strength in Phonics in KS1 are selected to join a Phonics catch-up group to bridge the gap between them and their mainstream peers, and enable them to partake in the Phonics Test in Year 1 or Year 2.  Alongside this, class teachers across school will plan short, daily differentiated phonics activities during the school day. This teaching is done using ‘Phonics Bug’ at its core but also uses multi-sensory activities from Jolly Phonics and other online resources. Pupils are given an appropriately matched reading book to their Phonic Phase using our reading scheme ‘Bug Club’.

There is a big emphasis throughout our school and in particular in the EYFS and KS1 department on Phase 1 phonics. For many of our younger pupils this will form the basis of their phonics teaching. For those pupils assessed as working Pre-Phase1, their targets will be set using PIVATS P1-3 and/or Routes for Learning. However, for all of our children, the development of speaking and listening skills is central to their whole education so that they can access all other areas of their learning. Without a good level of speaking and listening, children are not able to learn to read and write. Aspects of Phase 1 phonics will be ongoing throughout their school life at Holly Grove.

For some of our pupils, the teaching of systematic phonics is not appropriate and it is not possible to say at what age any of our children will be ready to start on Phase 2. Our children will not always be ready to start Phase 2 phonics in their Reception Year but may be ready later on in their primary education. Regular ongoing assessments of pupils, Annual Reviews and yearly Summative Assessments will identify those pupils who are ready move on to Phase 2 and beyond. For those children in Key Stage 2, who have been identified during Pupil Progress meetings as have made little to no progress in Phonics, Words First is used as an intervention. Words First is a stand-alone programme specifically designed to teach children to read and write using high frequency words.

Curriculum Implementation

Planning and delivery of phonics is the responsibility of the class teacher. However, phonics groups may be led and planned by teaching assistants under the guidance of the class teacher and English Subject Leader. Although we follow the sequence of phonic content within the programme we do not follow the length of advised time as some of our children need repetition to acquire phonic knowledge and skills. The class teacher will use their professional judgement and assessments to decide when to move a child on to the next set of sounds/phase.

At Holly Grove School, we place a huge importance on the importance of teaching phonics but also recognise that some of our children will not learn to read phonically but rather will read on sight a range of words from memory. Throughout school, children will be encouraged to continue to develop their phonic knowledge and skills and to use these to decode words but if they have not grasped the necessary phonic knowledge and skills to read, then they will be supported to develop their functional reading skills to enable them to be as independent as possible. Whichever reading strategy children use, reading for enjoyment and to gain information will be encouraged.