Reading and Phonics

All our pupils are taught to read using Oxford Reading Tree’s Floppy’s Phonics.

It is specially designed to teach children to read quickly and help them to become confident and fluent readers. It is a systematic and lively programme.

Why does it work?

All staff (teachers and assistants) have completed training in teaching phonics. They have also completed online training on delivering Floppy’s Phonics. The programme links reading, spelling and writing in a systematic way at each stage of the programme.

The children learn sounds throughout the year. In Reception they begin on Phase 2 with initial sounds and move to Phase 3 where they learn longer vowel sounds e.g. ai, ee and oo. They are taught to blend these letter sounds together to make words.  In Y1 they continue with Phase 4 and Phase 5 where they learn alternative spellings to the Phase 3 sounds. ‘Tricky’ or ‘High Frequency Words’ are taught alongside. These are the most common words that children will encounter e.g. the, and, in, he, she etc. Many of these cannot be built up and need to be recognised by sight.

A few children, who need extra support to maintain progress, work with a teaching assistant or teacher for some extra time each day.

Home readers are from Floppy’s Phonics but are also enhanced by other Oxford Reading Tree books like Word Sparks, Hero Academy, Alien Adventures and Adventure Mouse. These all use the same sounds they are learning in class. Many books are online to give greater access to a range of books.

Below are some links to videos that may help you understand a little more about Phonics. The first shows how to pronounce the letter sounds correctly in order to blend. The second describes what Phonics teaching is and why it is used and the third shows how to help children with blending.