Phonics

Phonics is an integral part of teaching children the fundamental skills, knowledge and concepts underpinning early reading and writing. For this reason, we place significant emphasis and value on Phonics within our curriculum at Coxheath.

In Early Years and KS1, our children receive daily phonics provision following the Sounds-Write programme. Our environments and daily routines celebrate phonics wherever possible so that pupils are completely immersed in the sounds and spellings linked to their learning. Our desire is that our children leave KS1 having mastered the Sounds-Write units and are competent when handling our written code. The breakdown below indicates when each specific unit is taught:

 In Year R, children learn the Initial Code (Units 1-11) where they will learn how to segment, blend and manipulate sounds in words containing all of the one-letter spellings and some two-letter spellings. 

 In Years 1, children progress to the Extended Code (Units 1- 26) where they will continue to practise segmenting, blending and phoneme manipulation. The children will also learn that more than one spelling can represent a sound and that a spelling can represent more than one sound. 

 In Year 2, children work through the remainder of the Extended Code (Units 27-49) where they consolidate the skills and knowledge previously taught but learn sound-spellings that are more complex. For example, in Year 1, the children are taught four spellings of the /ae/ phoneme (ai, ay, ea and a-e) and, in Year 2, the children are introduced to another four spellings (a, ei, ey and eigh).

All children take part in the National Phonics Screening Check at the end of Year 1 that they are prepared for through daily phonics lessons and through our teachers and teaching assistants who model the key skills and concepts that underpin our phonics teaching in all areas of the curriculum. In KS1, the children also have access to phonics books that directly link to the units taught in Sounds-Write. We use these books alongside our Phonics sessions and for reading at home, ensuring the children are regularly practising what they are learning in school.

To support parents with the pronunciation of the letter sounds that children learn in school, please take a look at the short video clip via the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s&feature=youtu.be

Spelling

This early phonics provision is built upon in KS2 using “Spelling Shed,” an interactive platform which allows children to retrieve and rehearse key spelling rules in an exciting way. Educational games and resources allow children ample opportunities to retrieve and consolidate their prior learning. Our progressional approach to Phonics at Loose ensures students receive the highest quality continuous provision throughout their learning journeys as they move through the school.​