Our School Reading and Phonics

Here at St Joseph’s we aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

Phonics in our school

EYFS

• Children read and understand simple sentences.
• They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words.
• They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read. EYFS follow red/green words and phonemes based on Read, Write, Inc scheme of work.
• Phonics is taught daily and currently Reception are being taught Phase 2 alongside CVC words and common Exception words, based on the new EYFS Framework 2021 for this Autumn Term. Nursery are currently following phase 1.

Year 1

• apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
• respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes
• read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught, based on the phonemes of Read, Write, Inc scheme of work. Children are currently recapping Phase 3 sounds and being introduced to phase 5 sounds throughout the Autumn Term

Year 2

• continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent
• read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far, especially recognising alternative sounds for graphemes, based on the phonemes of Read, Write, Inc scheme of work
• read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above.
• Year 2 are currently recapping phase 5 sounds for this Autumn term – due to lockdown and addressing prior gaps in learning

Reading Scheme:

We are currently using the reading scheme of ‘Ribgy Star’. Rigby Star Phonic books are designed and created so the readers can match the sounds they are taught to each phase. This enables the children to apply their phonics learning in the context of real stories and non fiction Starting after just 8 phonemes have been taught, they give children all the satisfaction of reading a book at the earliest possible point. Offers small increments of level and rigorous decodability to help grow successful and confident early readers.