Phonics is one of the most important aspects of the teaching of reading as it provides children with the necessary skills and knowledge to decode new words

It is taught daily in every class from the beginning of the

reception year.

It is taught systematically. There is a clear progression in the order of when letters and

sounds are taught across the school.

Children practise their reading at home and in school using

books which are fully decodable and carefully matched to the phonics they have learned in school.

Phonics is taught daily throughout the school from the beginning of Year R. Lessons are brisk paced, multi-sensory and ambitious, using the four part lesson structure recommended in Letters and Sounds. The children use displays and sound mats they we have developed to support their learning (see below). Within each phase children also learn ‘common exception’ or ‘tricky words’ which are not phonetically decodable at that point in their phonics learning journey. The children learn to read and spell these by sight using a range of strategies.