Phonics

To support our children’s development of their reading skills, the school has elected to teach phonics using Unlocking Letters & Sounds. The teaching team also draw upon a range of resources to meet the needs of our learners to ensure they can begin and further develop their skills to read words.

Skilled word-reading involves working out the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and recognising familiar printed words. Underpinning both of these is the understanding that letters represent the sounds in spoken words. Fluent decoding supports pupils’ comprehension, because they do not have to devote mental energy to individual words.  A good grasp of phonics is also important for spelling, contributing to fluency and confidence in writing. Unlocking Letters and Sounds sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children with the aim of them becoming fluent readers by age seven. Unlocking Letters and sounds sessions take place in reception, year 1 and year 2.

Statutory assessment

• All Year 1 children will participate in the national phonics screening check which takes place in June. In this test they are asked to read 20 real and 20 ‘pseudo’ words to test their phonic knowledge.
• Children who do not attain the threshold score are will participate in the screening check in June the following academic year (i.e Year 2).

The sounds of English

If you’re not sure how to say the sounds of the Initial Code accurately, listen to the delightful way they are spoken by children at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School and copy them.