At John Harrison CE Primary School, phonics is taught across Reception and KS1, as well as in intervention sessions across KS2, using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme of study. Phonics provides children with the building blocks needed to become successful readers. The RWI scheme, developed by Ruth Miskin, provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching phonics and early reading skills. We teach in this way because research shows that, when phonics is taught in a structured way (starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex), it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read.

 According to the DfE (Department for Education), ‘almost all children who receive good teaching of phonics, will learn the skills they need to tackle new words.’

Children are taught how to recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes, identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’ - and then blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.

Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words they hear or see. In KS1 we continue to develop children’s phonics knowledge through the RWI scheme. The children learn Set 2 and Set 3 sounds, which enable them to read and write a range of words. Children learn different representations of a sound (‘graphemes’), for example ay, a-e, ai. This enables children to become more confident with not only their reading but also spelling, and develops skills which are transferrable to their writing.

Children have daily phonics lessons which they enjoy. Each session is broken up into different parts including: revision of previous sounds taught, teaching of a new sound, reading words with the new sound and writing them. Phonics is embedded across the curriculum and the children are encouraged to use phonics to support them in a range of wider curriculum work. Phonics is displayed in relevant classrooms, including the RWI sounds and tricky red words. All children who access RWI are assessed using the RWI assessments test at the end of each half term. The test identifies the children's progress so far, as well as their targets. The national Year 1 phonics test takes place in June. The check is designed to confirm whether individual children have learned sufficient phonic decoding and blending skills to an appropriate standard. The test consists of 40 words; it is a combination of 20 real words and 20 pseudo words (nonsense words) for the child to read 1:1 with their teacher. This is carried out by a member of staff who has undertaken the phonics testing training and who the children are familiar with. Children who do not pass this in Year 1 will be re-assessed in Year 2, in the same manner. The results of this are reported to parents in the summer.

	Phonics Progression Document	[pdf 200KB]
	Teaching Phonics	[pdf 388KB]