Holy Family Catholic Primary School
Phonics Policy
Rationale
In 2006 Sir Jim Rose completed his independent review of the teaching of early
reading. The Rose Report makes it clear that ‘high-quality phonic work’ should be taught
systematically and discretely as the prime approach used in the teaching of early
reading. The review report provided clear recommendations on what constitutes 'high
quality phonics work'.
The 'simple view of reading'
The Rose Report makes a number of recommendations for the teaching of early
reading. It makes clear that there are two dimensions to reading – ‘word recognition’
and ‘language comprehension’.
High-quality phonic teaching secures the crucial skills of word recognition that, once
mastered, enable children to read fluently and automatically. Once pupils are fluent
readers, they are able to concentrate on the meaning of the text. The ‘simple view of
reading’ shows that both dimensions are necessary to achieve fluent reading. However,
the balance between word recognition and language comprehension shifts as children
acquire secure and automatic decoding skills and progress from ‘learning to read’ to
‘reading to learn’ for purpose and pleasure. The ultimate goal of learning to read is
comprehension.
Aims
 to establish consistent practice, progression and continuity in the teaching and
learning of phonics and spelling throughout the school
 to differentiate phonics and spelling work according to the needs of pupils, so that
all pupils are given sufficient challenge at a level at which they can experience
success
 to give pupils word work strategies that will enable them to become fluent readers
and confident writers.
Guidelines
Beginner readers should be taught:
 grapheme–phoneme correspondences in a clearly defined, incremental sequence
 to apply the highly important skill of blending phonemes in the order in which they
occur, all through a word to read it
 to apply the skills of segmenting words into their constituent phonemes to spell
 that blending and segmenting are reversible processes.
1
25/09/2012
High-quality phonic work will be most effective when:
 it is part of a broad and rich curriculum that engages pupils in a range of activities
and experiences to develop their speaking and listening skills and phonological
awareness.
 it is multi-sensory, encompassing simultaneous visual, auditory and kinaesthetic
activities to enliven core learning.
 it is time-limited, such that the great majority of children should be confident
readers by the end of Key Stage 1.
 it is systematic, that is to say, it follows a carefully planned programme with
fidelity, reinforcing and building on previous learning to secure pupils’ progress.
 it is taught discretely and daily at a brisk pace.
 there are opportunities to reinforce and apply acquired phonic knowledge and skills
across the curriculum and in such activities as shared and guided reading.
 pupils’ progress in developing and applying their phonic knowledge is carefully
assessed and monitored.
Teaching and Curriculum Content
We will follow the Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics
(Dfes 2007) as the main scheme. This will be supplemented by resources and decodable
reading books from a range of publishers, these resources are to be ‘dipped into’ as
appropriate to ensure teaching is kept lively and interesting and meets the needs of
the pupils.
The six-phases of the Letters and Sounds document provides a structure for teachers
to follow and plan children’s progression from, although the boundaries between the
phases are not fixed allowing teachers to plan across the phases depending on the class
needs. Teachers’ assessment of individual children will inform the rate at which their
children are able to progress through the phases and adapt the pace accordingly.
It is expected that Nursery will introduce Phase 1 in the first term a child attends
nursery when it is felt they are ready.
Reception will introduce and aim to complete Phase 2 and Phase 3 and introduce Phase
4 in the final half of the summer term if the pupils are secure at phase 3. The pupils in
Reception will have discrete phonics teaching input daily by teachers and practitioners.
The sessions last between fifteen to twenty-five minutes. There will also be constant
and enhanced activities within the environment available for children to explore
independently throughout the day.
Discrete daily teaching of 15-25 minutes will continue in Key Stage 1 as follows:
Children in year 1 and 2 will be grouped according to which phase they are working
within. The amount of groups will depend on how many teaching assistants are available
each year. Teachers are responsible for working with the lower ability and
underachieving pupils.
2
25/09/2012
It is important that the five phases are embedded and the children have a sound
understanding of the key knowledge and skills before the final sixth phase is
introduced in Year 2.
It is proposed that Year 3 should carry on the teaching and learning of the Letters and
Sounds programme. This is to ensure that all children achieve the 6 phases of learning
and continue to apply and use their phonetic knowledge and skills throughout Key Stage
2. It will be combined with support for spelling programme to ensure a smooth
transition to key stage 2.
Assessment
Assessment will follow the phonics: assessment and tracking guidance (DfeS
2009).
All Teachers will ensure that they are aware of individual children’s needs through
formative assessment which will be kept by the literacy co-ordinator for tracking and
monitoring progress.
All teachers will formally assess their children’s progress at the end of each half term
in order to monitor progress and inform the new terms planning. They will record
progress using the phonics progress tracking sheet. (See appendix 1)
Pupils’ names will be recorded in the phase they are working in when they are judged as
being secure their name will be highlighted and name put in the next book. (See
appendix 2)
At the end of reception pupil progress in phonics will be measured using the Early Years
Foundation Stage Profile – Reading.
At the end of Year 1 there is a statutory assessment - Year 1 phonics screening check
(Standards and Testing Agency 2012) which takes place in June of each year.
3
25/09/2012
Appendix 1
Letters and Sounds: Phonic progress tracking sheet – Early Years Foundation Stage through Key Stage 1
Class:
Teacher/Practitioner
Autumn
Spring
Summer
Y2
Y1
YR/Y1
Phase 3 (YR)
Working on: Knowing one grapheme
for each of the 43 phonemes
Phase 1 continuous through Phase 2 - 6
Show awareness of rhyme and alliteration. Distinguish between different sounds in the environment and
phonemes. Explore and experiment with sounds and words.
Progression
Phase 6 (Yr 2)
Working on: Recognising phonic irregularities. and becoming more
secure with less common grapheme-phoneme correspondences
Working on: Applying phonic skills and knowledge to recognise and spell
an increasing number of complex words.
Phase 5 (Yr 1)
Working on: Reading phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable
words.
Working on: Using alternative ways of pronouncing and spelling the
graphemes corresponding to the long vowel phonemes.
Working on: Spelling complex words using phonically plausible attempts.
Phase 4 (YR/Y1)
Working on: Segmenting adjacent consonants in words and apply this in
spelling.
Working on: Blending adjacent consonants in words and applying this
skill when reading unfamiliar texts.
Working on: Reading and spelling a wide range of CVC words
using all letters and less frequent consonant digraphs and some
long vowel phonemes.
Graphemes:
ear, air, ure, er,
ar, or, ur, ow, oi,
ai, ee, igh, oa, oo
Working on: Reading and spelling CVC words using a wider
range of letters, short vowels, some consonant digraphs and
double letters.
Consonant digraphs
ch, sh, th, ng
Working on: Reading and spelling CVC words using letters and
short vowels.
Letter progression
Set 7: y, z, zz, qu
Set 6: j, v, w, x
Phase 2
Working on: Using common consonants and vowels Blending for reading
and segmenting for spelling simple CVC words.
Working on: Knowing that words are constructed from phonemes and that
phonemes are represented by graphemes.
Letter progression:
Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss
Set 4: ck, e, u, r
Set 3: g, o, c, k
Set 2: I, n, m, d
Set 1: s, a, t, p
Phase 1 (7 Aspects)
Working on: Showing awareness of rhyme and alliteration, distinguishing
4
25/09/2012
between different sounds in the environment and phonemes, exploring
and experimenting with sounds and words and discriminating speech
sounds in words. Beginning to orally blend and segment phonemes.
5
25/09/2012
Appendix 2
Making secure judgements
Making secure judgements about ‘secure
at Phase 2’
Making secure judgements about ‘secure
at Phase 3’
Making secure judgements about ‘secure
at Phase 4’
Making secure judgements about ‘secure
at Phase 5’
The purpose of Phase 2 is to teach children
at least 19 graphemes and move them on
from oral blending and segmentation to
blending and segmenting with letters. This
phase should take up to six weeks.
The purpose of Phase 3 is to teach children
another 25 graphemes and further develop
their ability to apply the skills of blending
for reading and segmentation for spelling.
This phase should take up to 12 weeks.
Children are secure at Phase 2 when they
can:
 give the sound when shown any Phase 2
grapheme, securing first the starter
letters s, a, t, p, i, n
 find from a display any Phase 2
grapheme when given the sound
 orally blend and segment CVC words
 blend and segment in order to read and
spell (using magnetic letters) VC words
such as if, am, on, up and ‘silly names’
such as ip, ug, and ock.
Children are secure at Phase 3 when they
can:
 give the sound when shown all or most
Phase 2 and Phase 3 graphemes
 find from a display all or most Phase 2
and 3 graphemes when given the sound
 blend and read CVC words consisting of
Phase 2 and 3 graphemes
 segment and make a phonemically
plausible attempt at spelling CVC words
using Phase 2 and 3 graphemes.
The purpose of Phase 4 is to consolidate
children’s knowledge of Phase 2 and 3
graphemes and teach blending and
segmenting of adjacent consonants and
polysyllabic words. This phase should take
four to six weeks.
The purpose of Phase 5 is to teach
alternative pronunciations for known
graphemes, and teach new graphemes and
their alternative pronunciations. During
Phase 5, children will learn to choose the
appropriate grapheme to represent
phonemes and begin to build word-specific
knowledge of the spelling of words. This
phase should continue throughout Year 1
(approximately 30 weeks).
When observing a child reading and writing
at phase 2
‘Is the child using his/her phonic knowledge
and skills to identify the phonemes in a
word and beginning to blend them in order
to read words?’
‘Is the child using his/her phonic
knowledge and skills in his/her writing, for
example, beginning to orally segment words
and attempting to write, or use magnetic
letters to form words, using the graphemes
he/she knows?’
When observing a child reading and writing
at Phase 3
‘Is the child using his/her phonic
knowledge and skills to identify the
phonemes in a word and blending them in
order to read single-syllable words
consisting of Phase 2 and 3 graphemes?’
‘Is the child using his/her phonic knowledge
and skills to segment single-syllable words
and making phonemically plausible attempts
at spelling using Phase 2 and 3 graphemes?’
Children are secure at Phase 4 when they
can:
 give the sound when shown any Phase 2
and Phase 3 graphemes
 find from a display any Phase 2 and 3
grapheme when given the sound
 blend and read words containing
adjacent consonants
 • segment and spell words containing
adjacent consonants.
When observing a child reading and writing
at Phase 4
‘Is the child using his/her phonic knowledge
and skills to identify the phonemes in a
word and blending them in order to read
single-syllable words consisting of Phase 2
and 3 graphemes and adjacent consonants?’
‘Is the child using his/her phonic
knowledge and skills to segment singlesyllable words including adjacent
consonants and making phonemically
plausible attempts at spelling using Phase 2
and 3 graphemes?’
Children are secure at Ph5 when they can:
 give the sound when shown any
grapheme that has been taught
 write the common graphemes for any
given sound
 use phonic skill and knowledge as the
prime approach to reading and spelling
unfamiliar words, including those that
are not completely decodable
 • read and spell phonically decodable
two-syllable and three-syllable words.
When observing a child reading and writing
at Phase 5
‘Is the child applying his/her phonic
knowledge and skills, including knowledge of
alternative pronunciations, as the prime
approach to reading unfamiliar words,
including those that are not completely
decodable?’ ‘Is the child applying his/her
phonic knowledge and skills in writing
unfamiliar words, including those that are
6
25/09/2012
not fully decodable and is he/she beginning
to consider correct spelling choices?’
7
25/09/2012
Do children need to be able to read
and write CVC words to be secure
at Phase 2?
Some children may be unable to
read and spell CVC words
independently by the end of Ph 2.
However, as long as they are able
to blend and segment CVC words
orally and know most of the Ph 2
graphemes most of the time, they
can progress to Ph 3 where they
will continue to practise the skills
of CVC blending and segmentation.
What about children who are
unable to orally segment CVC
words?
Children who cannot orally segment
CVC words, for example, children
who say /p/ /i/ /t/ when asked to
sound-talk ‘pit’ are not yet secure
at Ph 2. Teachers and practitioners
need to ensure that these children
have plenty of opportunities to
practise oral blending and
segmentation both in phonics
sessions and throughout the day, as
without these necessary skills,
children will not progress to
become confident readers and
Frequently asked questions
How many grapheme–phoneme
A child in my class can blend
correspondences do children need
adjacent consonants for reading
to know to be considered secure at but he can’t segment adjacent
Phase 3?
consonants at the end of words in
his writing. Is he secure at Phase
Children should know one way of
4?
writing every sound they can hear
in words (around 43 phonemes,
Children who are unable to segment
depending on local accent) and
to spell words containing adjacent
should be able to apply this
consonants at the beginning and
knowledge in their independent
end of words are not yet secure at
writing.
Phase 4. These children need more
A child in my class can give the
practice in oral segmentation of
sounds for all the graphemes she
adjacent consonants and then
has been taught during the revisit
representing them in writing.
and review part of the daily phonics
session, but she doesn’t seem to be
able to use these graphemes in her
writing. Do you think she is secure
at Phase 3?
Children who are unable to make a
phonemically plausible attempt at
writing using taught graphemes are
not yet secure at Phase 3. These
children need ongoing opportunities
to practise oral blending and
segmentation to ensure that they
can hear all the sounds in words,
and further consolidation of their
knowledge of grapheme–phoneme
Which graphemes do pupils need to
be able to read to be secure at
Phase 5?
Pupils should be able to give the
sound for the graphemes on p134
of Letters and Sounds and the
alternative pronunciations on p136.
How many graphemes do children
need to know for each phoneme?
Pupils should have been introduced
to all the alternative spellings for
each phoneme by the end of Ph 5.
They should be able to write the
common graphemes (though not all
the rare alternatives) in
independent writing and should be
able to offer a common alternative,
based on their growing knowledge
of spelling choices, when prompted
by an adult.
Do pupils have to spell correctly to
be secure at Phase 5?
Pupils spelling should be
phonemically plausible by the end
of Ph 5, eg, ‘a noyzy trane at the
stayshun’ for ‘a noisy train at the
station’. Some unconventional
spellings are to be expected while
pupils are learning the correct
8
25/09/2012
writers.
correspondences in a range of
contexts.
spellings for an ever-increasing
number of common words.
9
25/09/2012