Phonics Policy

At Totsland we want every child to be successful, fluent readers and writers by the end of the first two years of elementary school and we believe that this is achievable through a combination of strong, high quality, discrete phonics teaching combined with regular, daily opportunities for developing reading skills. The teaching of phonics is a key strategy that is used to help our children to read, write and spell.

We follow the six phases of Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High-Quality Phonics across the Early years and the first two grades of elementary school. This guidance is supported with the use of selected resources from Jolly Phonics.

Planning for phonics is separate from the English Language Art planning and is recorded in the school’s phonics planning format. It should be based on the needs of the children and show clear differentiation. Phonics is taught through discrete phonic sessions, regular reading and writing sessions and through embedding the phonics by linking it with other curriculum subjects throughout the school day.

Teachers use assessment for learning and the Letters and Sounds end of phase assessments to track and review children’s progress. Assessments also inform teachers of targeted intervention sessions that may be needed for those children who struggle with the learning of phonics.

Children will progress through the six phases of Letters and Sounds, beginning with Phase one in Toddler 2. By the end of the Summer Term, Pre-kindergarten children should be familiar up to the end of Phase three. By the end of Grade 1, children should be proficient in their phonics knowledge and have completed Phase six of Letters and Sounds. Children in Grade 1 who did not meet the required standard for phonics and need more work on ‘decoding’ and ‘word reading’ skills, will have opportunities to practice this using daily phonics sessions. Children in Grade 2 and older who need further phonic intervention work will do so through targeted interventions.

Discrete phonics sessions in class will be timetabled and taught daily from Toddler 2 through to Grade 1. The expectation is that phonics is taught for a minimum of 10 – 15 minutes in Toddler 2, 15 – 25 minutes in Pre-kindergarten, 25 – 30 minutes in Kindergarten and Year 1.

Across the Early years and Grades K – 2 classes, parents are encouraged to read daily with their child. Regular reading at home should enable the children to use segmenting and blending techniques learned in phonics sessions. In Early Years

Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centered approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics.  With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children and teachers, who can see their students achieve. The letter sounds are split into seven groups as shown below.

The sounds are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.

Using a synthetic phonics approach, Jolly Phonics teaches children the five key skills for reading and writing. The program continues through school enabling the teaching of essential grammar, spelling and punctuation skills.

• Learning the letter sounds – Children are taught the 42 main letter sounds. This includes alphabet sounds as well as digraphs such as sh, th, ai and ue.
• Learning letter formation – Using different multi-sensory methods, children learn how to form and write the letters.
• Blending – Children are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words.
• Identifying the sounds in words (Segmenting) – Listening for the sounds in words gives children the best start for improving spelling.
• Tricky words – Tricky words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately.

The teaching of reading:

‘Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Underpinning both is the understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words. This is why phonics should be emphasized in the early teaching of reading to beginners (i.e. unskilled readers) when they start school.’