Our vision for Phonics, is that every child achieves the success in reading that they deserve, right from the start. The sooner children learn to read, the greater their success at school. This is why we put reading at the heart of what we do.

Intent

At Whittington Nursery and Primary School we prioritise reading as a key life skill, which underpins access to the rest of the curriculum. We aim for children to read words and simple sentences by the end of Reception; become successful, fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1 and develop a lifelong love of reading for all our children throughout the school. The systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is given a high priority throughout Early Years and Key Stage 1. We value and encourage children to read for pleasure and recognise that this starts with the foundations of acquiring letter sounds, segmenting and blending skills. We want children to enjoy success and gain confidence from a positive experience. We combine quality phonics instruction with exposure to a wide range of texts and the promotion of reading for pleasure to provide the children with the skills they need to have a successful start to their lives as readers.

Impact

Children feel confident in using their phonic knowledge and the strategies that they have been taught to read words. This helps them to access a range of material and, in turn, fosters a love of reading. By taking home books that are closely matched to their phonic knowledge, children can celebrate reading success with their parents and carers which will give them the confidence and motivation to read regularly. This will have a positive impact on the progress that they make. Children will be able to make phonically plausibly attempts at spelling words and therefore communicate their ideas in writing across a range of subjects and for a range of purposes both in and out of school. Based on their phonic knowledge, children can make good spelling choices and spell many words correctly.

In short, we aspire for our pupils to:

• read at an age-appropriate level with fluency which enables them to access the broader curriculum

• develop a life-long love of reading where they read widely and often, with fluency and comprehension.

• Achieve well at EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 assessment points

• Have the required phonics skills to pass Year 1 phonic screening check on the first attempt