Our Approach to Phonics and Early Reading
Phonics at Hawes Side Academy is taught following the Fisher Family Trust ‘Success for all Phonics’ programme. This is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme that has been validated by the DfE. Phonics is an integral part of the curriculum across EYFS and Key Stage 1 (continuing into Key Stage 2 as necessary). Lessons are taught daily to ensure that children develop the skills needed to become successful readers and writers.
As a result of our commitment to implementing ‘Success for All Phonics' at Hawes Side Academy, we are delighted to be a Phonics Partner School. Through this partnership, we have implemented effective strategies to improve early reading skills, ensuring that every child has a strong foundation for future achievements on our journey towards creating a community of lifelong learners!
Phonics Lessons
Daily lessons are planned so that children build on their skills sequentially and systematically to ensure that rapid progress is made. The phonics lesson is 25 minutes each day and consists of reviewing previously learnt sounds (GPCs) and then teaching, practising and applying a new sound(s).
The Success for All Phonics Scope and Sequence is set out clearly and provides detailed guidance and support for teachers to plan and deliver high quality lessons.
Phonics Phrases
For each of the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondences in Success for All Phonics we teach children a short alliterative phrase to help them to remember it, e.g. for ‘s’ we have ‘The snake slides and slithers.’ If your child is having difficulty in remembering a GPC, reminding them of the alliterative phrase might help.
Pure Sounds
In their daily phonics lesson, children are taught to pronounce each letter sound clearly and distinctly (pure sounds) without adding additional sounds to the end e.g. 'f' not 'fuh'. This enables them blend sounds together and decode words more effectively.
It is important that teachers, parents and carers model the correct pronunciation (pure sound) of each sound/phoneme. Success for All Phonics has produced videos to demonstrate the correct pronunciation of the all the grapheme / phonemes correspondences taught in the programme:
Click HERE to access videos to support in correct pronunciation of all
Grapheme-Phoneme-Correspondences (GPCs)
Letter Formation Cues
When children learn to write lower case letters in the correct way, we use a short rhyme to help them remember how they should do this, e.g. for ‘s’ this is ‘Left around, right around, from head to tail.’ We want children to form their letters in the correct way as early as possible and prevent them from developing poor letter writing habits that will need to be corrected later.
Click HERE for the alliterative phrases and letter writing cues.
Teachers will assess which phonics skills have been mastered by children at each phase. Assessment is based on daily classroom work and observation, capturing children’s responses to questions and their oral and written learning. Alongside this, half termly summative assessments are carried out using the Reading Assessment programme. This is an effective on-line assessment tool, which identifies a child’s strengths and areas for development and is used to inform the next steps in teaching and learning. The RAP assesses
knowledge of phonemes and graphemes, fluency and comprehension.
Shared Reading Lessons
In addition to the daily phonics lesson, an important part of the Success for All Phonics Programme is the daily reading lesson, which enables pupils to apply the graphemes and phonemes they have learnt.
The Shared Reader lessons follow a consistent daily structure which enables lessons to be taught with pace as everybody understands the routine and what is expected. Each Shared Reader is designed to be read over 5 days. This 5-day schedule provides opportunities to develop comprehension, fluent reading and to consolidate letter formation, spelling and sentence writing. During their reading sessions, children are introduced to conventions for grammar and punctuation, so they learn how they impact on reading. Understanding these conventions also aids comprehension and their ability, eventually, to write with meaning.
Support for Parents and Carers
Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their child as they learn to read, and their contribution is greatly valued.
Success for All Phonics provides home resources and information for parents/ carers via the Parent Portal HERE
If you have any questions about your child’s reading please speak to their class teacher.