Phonics
Overview
At Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School, we teach phonics through Unlocking Letters and Sounds, a validated systematic synthetic phonics programme. Phonics teaching begins within the first few weeks of the Reception year, enabling children to make rapid progress on their reading journey.
In Reception, children learn the main sounds of the English language and how these sounds are represented by letters and groups of letters. They also learn the Common Exception Words for Phases 2, 3 and 4. Using this knowledge, children begin to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. By the end of Reception, children are able to confidently apply the phonemes and graphemes taught within Phases 2, 3 and 4.
In Year 1, children progress through Phase 5a, 5b and 5c, where they learn alternative spellings and pronunciations for graphemes, alongside additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1, children will have developed secure phonics knowledge and will be able to decode and blend confidently when reading, and segment sounds effectively when spelling. All Year 1 pupils take part in the statutory Phonics Screening Check.
In Year 2, phonics learning continues to be revisited and embedded to ensure mastery. Any child who has not yet met age-related expectations at the end of Year 1 receives additional support to help close identified gaps and build confidence.
To ensure that no child is left behind, pupils’ progress is assessed regularly. Targeted support is provided through bespoke one-to-one precision teaching, as well as blending and segmenting interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure that interventions are effective and lead to accelerated progress.
Supporting Reading and Phonics at Home
Children take home reading books that are carefully matched to their current phonics phase. This enables them to practise and apply the reading skills that have been taught in school and experience success as readers.
We encourage parents and carers to read with their child every day to support the development of blending, decoding and reading fluency skills. Please record each reading session in your child's reading record book and include a positive comment about their reading progress and achievements.