Phonics and Reading at Park

At Park, we have designed our phonics and curriculum to:

• Meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and Early Years Framework

• Be rich in knowledge that is meaningfully connected to what children already know

• Build a strong understanding of the reading process over their time at Park, cultivating an enjoyment of reading that flourishes as our children move through the key stages.

• Develop empathetic citizens of now and the future, equipped and empowered to make a difference in an ever-changing world

• Make sure every child learns to read fluently

• Provide children with a rich and varied collection of books, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry to be studied and enjoyed: both for the ‘skill’ of reading and the ‘will’ to read for pleasure.  

We teach early reading through the systematic, synthetic phonics programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Right from the start of F2, children have a daily phonics lesson which follows the progression for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds and this continues in Year One to ensure children become fluent readers. We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In F2, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.

Following our rigorous phonics programme, our children develop their reading comprehension skills using a mastery approach to reading through engaging and challenging texts, covering a wide variety of text types and authors. These high-quality texts allow children consistentpractice of the key reading skills, such as retrieving key information, understanding key vocabulary and inference-making. This exposure to new vocabulary often ties into our wider learning in other curriculum areas such as Writing, History and Science. Each reading session focusses on a reading domain, or skill, which are conducted as a whole class, before being practised further in smaller, guided reading groups. Consistent work around these core reading skills in each text type allows children to master them as they progress through school. As a staff, we tailor each unit and lessons to meet the needs of our children and classes.

To allow children to continue to practise their reading fluency, prosody and comprehension in their free reading, we organise our school libraries using the Accelerated Reader programme. Children complete a half-termly ‘Star Reader’ test, which adjusts to suit their reading level. From this, children are given a ZPD range (Zone of Proximal Development) which gives them a selection of book levels that will offer children a healthy challenge in their reading: books are neither too hard, that they affect a child’s confidence when reading, nor are they too easy that children become bored and unchallenged. After reading a book from the levels they are testing at, children are able to complete comprehension quizzes to ensure they are reading for meaning at the appropriate level. This, alongside our use of the digital library MyON, ensure children can practise their comprehension skills regularly, building confidence in their own reading as they move their way up to lengthier, more challenging books. For those children who require further support in their reading, continued access and practise to phonics-decodable books is provided in daily reading with an adult, to help them bridge the gaps needed to move onto other types of reading

To be sure that our phonics and reading curriculum is working for your child, we regularly check whether they have gained the knowledge set out in our curriculum.  Within lessons, we set up short activities to check what they have understood and remembered.  Where children show they have not understood or remembered some key learning, we will make adaptations for them within the lesson and change our planning for future lessons to address this and help them remember more.

All children learning phonics are assessed every 6weeks to review their learning in phonics. Any children who have not secured the knowledge of the sounds that have been taught, will have additional intervention in our small catch up groups to consolidate the learning.

At the end of each term we check whether children have remembered the sounds we have been learning and reading comprehension skills.  We make a summary judgement as to whether they have met the National Curriculum expectations for their year group or are on track for their Early Learning Goal.  We will inform you of your child’s reading attainment in their mid year parents’ meetings and end of year report. There will also be regular chances to come into school to look at their books see what they have learned. 

From the end of year 1, we also use national standardised tests to check what your child' is able to understand in texts appropriate for their age.. We analyse their performance by analysing the questions they have answered correctly and those they have struggled with so that we can take action to give then further learning opportunities in areas where they have gaps in their understanding. We will also let their next teacher know, so that they can plan to meet your child’s needs in the next class.

Our English subject leader and senior leadership team regularly review the assessments made in phonics and reading, look at your child’s books and visit their lessons to check whether our curriculum is working to help your child master to skills to be a confident reader.  We use this to reflect on what has been taught, how it has been taught and make further improvements to our curriculum.

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. We ask that all children read at home every day.

In F1, your child will bring home a book each week for you to read to them and enjoy together

In F2 and KS1, there are two types of reading book that your child will bring home: a reading practice book and a read for pleasure book.

The reading practice book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level so that they will know all the sounds that come up in that book. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. For this reason, children keep the same book for a week so they re-read it, building confidence each time, moving from a focus on accurate word reading to fluency to prosody (reading with expression). After they have finished, talk about the book together.

The four videos below show you how to pronounce the sounds. Notice how the children don’t add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, so they say: ‘t’ not ‘tuh’. Use the downloadable information to help your child remember how to write their letters and say their sounds. You can access all resources here.