In Lower School, all children take part in regular phonics sessions based on a resource published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2007 called ‘Letters and sounds’
Phonics begins in the early years with listening to distinguish between different sounds in the environment, to develop an awareness of rhyme, and to hear and say sounds in words. Children then move on to linking sounds to letters. We use some of the stories from Jolly Phonics to introduce the letter sounds. We also have a range of resources in school to support teaching and learning, including sandpaper letters to feel, letters to thread, magnetic letters, letters and words to ‘fish’ out of the water, and word and picture matching games.
Our main school reading scheme is Oxford Reading Tree. The books allow the children to practise blending letter sounds to read words, and to recognise ‘tricky’ words by sight. In Upper School, pupils use ‘Reading Pro’. After each book they read, pupils complete a fun quiz. These quizzes support pupils comprehension skills.
Please download a spellings list for Years 1 to 6.
