Phonics is the key to early reading and supports children in the development of gaining knowledge on how letters link to sounds, how to blend sounds correctly, and the skill of segmenting letters to support children in confidently spelling words and writing sentences. Ultimately, this all cumulates in helping a child to become a strong, independent early reader. We are driven to ensuring that our Wyndham children are able to crack the phonics code so that they can have a love of reading, and be fluent writers.

We understand that are children are the most engaged in their phonics when the learning episodes are fun and active. The Monster Phonics scheme provides the basis for our phonic learning; a multi-sensory approach to phonics where graphemes are colour-coded and represented by unique monsters. Each coloured grapheme is paired with an individual monster character that makes the same sound to give audio-visual prompts that help children ‘see’ each sound within a word and pronounce it correctly. The individual monsters act as sound cues helping our children to remember how to both read and pronounce the graphemes taught.

EPISODES OF LEARNING

Phonics is taught daily across Early Years, Year One and Year Two, with all children getting exposure to 40 minutes of phonics across the day. These episodes of learning happen twice a day in Early Years Foundation Stage for 20 minutes per session, and one taught session in both Year One and Year Two for 40 minutes per session. This allows children to have ample time to learn, practise and independently apply their phonic skills, making the learning sticky. Additionally, children are given a reading book to take home weekly that is carefully matched to their phonics knowledge and ability. All staff from Nursery to Year 6 have had training in the teaching and implementation of phonics allowing for every member of staff to support a child's phonics learning effectively. This means that all children, regardless of ability, have the necessary support and challenge required.

ASSESSMENT

Children are regularly assessed so we can ensure that all children are working within the appropriate phonics phase. When a child is in Year 1, they under take the Phonics Screening Test in June. The Government introduced this to identify if children are working at the required standard in order to be an independent reader, capable of segmenting and blending. Typically, a child is expected to achieve around 32 out of 40 to "pass" the assessment. If a child does not meet the necessary requirement, they will retake the assessment during the following year in Year 2.

Additionally, click on this link to be directed to a video of an Episode of Learning to see how reading is incorporated into phonics: https://twitter.com/Y1Wyndham/status/1233099591941283841​