Phonics and Reading

Children in Key Stage 1 build upon their initial phonic knowledge from Reception and take part in daily phonics and reading activities. 

Phonics

Phonics in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 follows the Floppy's Phonics scheme published by Oxford University Press.  Children have daily phonics teaching based upon their level of phonic knowledge.  These sessions involve recognising letters and the sounds they make, blending sounds together to read whole words and segmenting words up into their sounds to help with spelling.  They practice both reading and spelling/writing across the week as well as language work. 

If you would like to support your child with their phonic knowledge you may find the following links helpful:

Phonicsplay website

Family Learning -phonics games

BBC Bitesize

Below is a short video demonstrating how to say basic sounds correctly.

Below is a short video about how to blend for reading.

Image by Freepik - Freepik.com

Image by Freepik - Freepik.com

 Reading

Reading is a very important part of our curriculum in Key Stage 1.  The children take part in a range of reading activities each day.  These may include individual reading to an adult, reading together as a whole class, reading aloud to the whole class, listening to an adult read, guided group reading and self-initiated reading for pleasure in the class reading area.   We feel that children reading aloud to an adult on a one to one basis is still a very important part of how children learn to read and make time during the school week for all children to read regularly to adults. 

To support the children with their individual reading we use a range of reading scheme books but our main approach to teaching reading is through the application of phonics.  Children in Year 1 build upon their phonics knowledge from Reception and children in Year 2 continue to apply their phonic skills to unfamiliar words whilst also being encouraged to use other strategies to read texts.  We believe that children learn best when they experience a breath of text types and try to provide children with a range of text types within their wider reading experiences such as whole class story, child initiated reading and group reading.

The scheme that the children in Key Stage 1 use will depend upon their level of phonics understanding and how secure they are with their application of phonics to reading.  Children in Year 1 predominantly read phonetically decodeable books from the from Oxford Reading Tree scheme.  As children become secure with their phonics knowledge they also read books from the Rigby Rocket Reading Scheme - published by  Pearson.  These schemes are our main approach to reading.  However, depending on the children's needs we also use books from Jelly and Bean, Phonics Bug and 'real book' reading schemes.  This provides children at all levels with a range of material that can provide support and challenge as needed.

Please see our homework page for tips on reading and learning at home.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

At the end of Year 1 children are required to take a standardised test in Phonics.  It is a tool for teachers to ensure that children are making the correct progress in phonics skills and are on track to become fluent readers.  If you would like more information about the screening check then please use the links below.

An information booklet for parents about the screening check

Frequently asked questions