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Ellwood Community Primary School

Phonics

Early Reading - Phonics - Key Stage 1

At Ellwood Community Primary School, we believe that reading is at the heart of the children’s learning. It is an essential life skill that children need to be able to access the whole curriculum and become lifelong learners. We believe that learning to read and reading for pleasure transforms children’s lives.

 

'The Foundations of Reading, Spelling and Writing for Every Child'

Floppy's Phonics Programme

The Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics systematic synthetic phonics programme provides you with all the structure and resources you need to deliver really effective synthetic phonics teaching for all children – as well as enriching their vocabulary and language comprehension.

Floppy’s Phonics is in line with the Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) teaching principles described in the ‘English programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2 – National curriculum in England’ and the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage [EYFS]. 

Phonics Drivers
Phonics/Reading Policies 
Progression Documents
Support for Parents 
Fundraising Sponsored Bounce
Thank you so much for supporting the sponsored bounce this year. Some of the money has been put towards some new books. We have been waiting for the books to be published and they are finally here! The books are amazing and will enhance the children’s phonics and reading development. We have also used some of this money to purchase some of our Golden Ticket prizes. Thank you so much ! Team work makes the dream work.

'High Frequency Words' and 'Helpful Words'

Alongside each phonic phase there are sets of ‘helpful words’ that children will need to learn by sight. These are words that are not able to be phonetically sounded out.

EYFS, KS1 and KS2 children are given words to learn by sight relevant to their attainment. In each year group there is a list of common exception words, which children will learn at school.

Early Reading

Reading books will be given to children from Reception through to Year 6. Reading books are graded and are matched to the phonic ability of your child. This system allows children to choose a book at an appropriate level for them and means that our pupils have more choice about what they read, hopefully leading to increased enthusiasm for reading. Children should be able to read their home reading books with approximately 95% fluency. 

Individual Reading Books - Key Stage 1

The reading books are separated into levels (1-12).

To ensure books are matched closely to the children's phonics attainment, books in levels 1-5 have been sorted into sets. Each set contains specific  sounds, children progress through the sets inline with our phonics programme.

 

Each week children in Reception and Year 1 are able to take home a 'Phonics Book', that included sounds taught in school that week. Children are encouraged to read this book frequently to support their reading fluency and to consolidate sounds taught at school. 

 

 

Individual Reading 

We endeavour to hear the children read independently as often as possible. This maybe during guided reading sessions or reading texts linked to other subjects throughout the school day. This type of reading maybe linked to theme work.

Book Vote 
The children in Oak and Chestnut enjoy voting for a story to read at storytime. The stories are taken from our 'Brilliant Books to Read' lists. 
Story Sacks
The children in KS1 have the opportunity to take story sacks home. The story sacks have been created to develop the children's love of reading and story telling skills at home alongside their phonics reading material. 
Phonics Teaching

Phonics in Reception and Year 1 is taught every day. It is also incorporated into English and spelling lessons. Children who are finding phonics challenging are given extra support and intervention, as and when needed, regardless of the year group they are in.

 

Year 2

Spellings are taught 3 times a week 

Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening in Year 1 will receive 'Phonics Keep Up sessions'.

Sharing Library

As part of our ongoing aim to ensure all children at Ellwood School become lifelong readers we have introduced a sharing library for the children to select stories which can be enjoyed at home alongside their 'levelled reading book'.

As these stories are richer reading opportunities they are to be shared with parents and do not have to be read independently due to the complexity of the text. Your child may like to help retell the story, have a go at blending some words or find helpful words within the text. 

The children have access to high quality texts, poetry books, fact books and story props throughout the continuous provision in Reception. These are also found across the school.
Books linked to Cultural Development, Inclusion, Personal Development and Diversity.
 
Each class has a range of books linked to lots of different areas which enhance diversity, inclusion and cultural development. They can be found in our classrooms: Everyone different, everyone the same, No outsiders books and books showing different cultures and faiths.