Phonics provides vital foundations for children to become fluent readers.
At Shirley Manor, we use Twinkl Phonics as our systematic, synthetic phonics (SSP) programme. Phonics is taught daily across EYFS and KS1, following the Twinkl Phonics scheme. The DfE approved scheme follows a progressive, systematic approach to the teaching of phonics from entry to school at 3 years of age, with the expectation that pupils will be fluent readers by the end of Key Stage one.
During the lessons, children will repeat the elements from the four cornerstones of phonics to ensure that they have rapid and automatic recall of Grapheme, Phoneme Correspondences GPCs and tricky/common exception words; each day, they will experience blending and segmenting activities to allow regular practice of these core skills.
Decodable reading books are also provided, matched to the children’s phonic phases through the use of Rhino Readers. We also use a blend of e-books and physical books. The children are taught reading using a ‘three read’ approach with each day focusing on a different element of early reading skills (Day one – decoding, day two – prosody, day three- comprehension)
Twinkl Codebreakers intervention is for children who have gaps in their phonics knowledge. Codebreakers revisits the graphemes and tricky/common exception words that are taught as part of the main programme.
Each session follows the format
* Revisit and Review
* Teach
* Practise
* Apply
Each session is assessed and adapted to meet the needs of the children. Each child completes a baseline assessment when they join Shirley Manor and at the beginning of each academic year. They are then assessed each term formatively alongside daily assessments after each session.