Phonics at Gilbert Colvin Primary School

At Gilbert Colvin Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that all children become accomplished and enthused readers. To support them with this in their early stages of reading, we follow the Read Write Inc. programme. This programme is systematic, consistent and progressive in its teaching approach and matches the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and the National Curriculum.

Children start Read Write Inc. daily lessons in the summer term of Nursery.  They learn to say the individual sounds that each letter of the alphabet makes in their purest form. This skill is revisited at the start of Reception where children build on their ability to identify a mixture of sounds they have progressively learnt.  For each individual letter sound, the children are taught how to form the letter by using a mnemonic phrase. When children are confident in recalling a few sounds, they begin to read words containing two or more individual sounds (e.g. 'it', 'mad') by using ‘Fred Talk’ to blend the sounds to read the word.  

Across the year, Reception and Year 1 pupils progress with their phonic knowledge by learning about 'Special Friend' sounds (two or three letters together which make one sound). For example, 'ay', 'ee' and 'igh'. Each day, children practise reading new words relating to a specific 'Special Friend' sound being explicitly taught and to also review reading words previously taught by using a range of strategies to develop instant recognition. In order to further apply their phonic understanding, children read 'alien' words which support Year 1 pupils for the Phonic Screening Check in the summer term. Any child that requires additional support with their phonics receives personalised tutoring.

To ensure that children make continued progress, the phonics lead assesses their sound knowledge and reading every half-term using the Read Write Inc. assessment, which results in children being placed in homogenous groups. This ensures that all children receive phonics teaching that is specific to their next progressive steps in reading. We use Read Write Inc. to also teach writing outcomes by teaching letter formation, spelling strategies and sentence composition.  Children are taught to use their fingers to identify the number of sounds in a word to support them with spelling. Sentence composition relates to the storybook that children read during their phonic lesson so that they can draw upon key vocabulary taken from the story to include it in an orally rehearsed sentence. .

We have a driven team of trained staff who are committed to delivering high quality phonics lessons to all pupils with high expectations for pupil outcomes. Staff are regularly updated on training developments, which enhance the delivery of their lessons and are consistently supported through coaching to refine their practice.