Phonics

Phonics

At Sandford Hill Primary School, we follow the validated Twinkl Phonics Scheme. We deliver daily phonic lessons from Nursery – Year 2 aiming to develop confident and motivated readers.

In Early Years and Key Stage 1, children’s reading books are closely matched to their phonic ability. Children who are just beginning to learn the letter/sound correspondences use word-less books. These books develop the children’s speaking skills as the children re-tell the story from the pictures. This is crucial in the development of spoken language and vocabulary and it is a necessary stepping stone towards becoming an accomplished reader and writer. The children then move onto books with letters and words in which are closely matched to their phonic knowledge.

The children read ‘Bug Club’, ‘Floppy Phonics’ and ‘Rhino Readers’ reading books. These books enable the children to consolidate and apply the phonic knowledge they have learned in class as well as increasing their reading fluency.There will be a small group of children (usually no more than two or three children) that will require small group phonics teaching. This will be delivered by an experienced member of staff using the same scheme, resources and teaching cycle to ensure consistency.

Twinkl Progression

Twinkl Phonics features six levels as part of its teaching sequence. The following table demonstrates the recommended teaching weeks and age range of each level.

Teachers work hard to remain within the time scales of these levels; however, we recognise that each cohort is different and some may need to work through at a slower or faster pace to suit their needs.

Please see the whole school overview and phonics progression map for more detail of what is taught and when.