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Phonics

Phonics is taught through our Read Write Inc scheme from Reception, and continued throughout Years 1 and 2.  The aim is for all children to complete the scheme by the end of Year 1, but if necessary, they will continue to access sessions until they no longer need them further up the school. Children are placed into small groups according to their phonic knowledge and assessments are completed regularly. We teach sounds first in a specific order and then we teach your child to blend those sounds together to read words. The children then read these words in the carefully matched Storybooks that embed the sounds the children can already know, setting them up for success.

Year 1 Phonics Screening

At the end of Year 1, the children with sit a Phonics test to check their understanding of sounds through their ability to decode 40 words that will be a mixture of real and nonsense words (also known as alien words). The Alien words can be made up of any of the 49 phonemes taught and be put together in any sequence. The pass rate for this test changes each year and is not given to school until the Phonics Screening is completed. If your child does not pass the Phonics Screening check, they will continue with Read, Write Inc. in Year 2 and will be tested again at the end of Year 2