At Ashford Park Primary School we believe that for all our children to become fluent readers and writers, phonics must be taught through a systematic and structured phonics programme.

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound (phoneme), that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing.

Our phonics teaching starts in reception and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover.

At Ashford Park, we also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of language skills for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

"From the start of Reception, high-quality training ensures that staff closely follow the detailed and sequenced phonics programme."

 

"Staff check what pupils know accurately."

 

"This information is used to ensure that the books that pupils read closely match the sounds that they know."

 

"Consequently, all pupils develop into fluent and accurate readers."

 

Ofsted, 2024