Our vision for strong foundations in Phonics

At South Camberley Primary and Nursery School, we teach phonics using a linguistic phonics programme called Sounds-Write. Sounds-Write is a very highly structured, multi-sensory approach to teaching children to read and spell. Its structure and simplicity makes it a programme accessible to all learners and helps them to make excellent progress with their reading and spelling. 

The four key concepts children are taught are 

1. Letters are symbols that represent sounds. 
2. Sounds can be spelled using 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters. 
3. The same sound can be spelled in different ways. 
4. The same spelling can represent different sounds. 

The three key skills children need to master are: 

1. Blending 
2. Segmenting 
3. Phoneme manipulation 

Our ultimate aim is that children leave Year 2 fluent, confident and independent readers being able to apply their knowledge and skills across the curriculum. 

 

How we teach Phonics

• Our strong foundations for teaching reading is through our daily phonics lessons, starting within our nursery setting. 
• In nursery, children learn to identify environmental and percussive sounds with teaching of rhymes and songs to enable them to begin to make the distinction between different sounds.
• Children in Reception and KS1 are taught phonics daily in mixed ability settings.
• Children in Reception and KS1 have, up to, a 30-minute Sounds-Write session every day with KS1 having an afternoon follow-up session.  
• Some children require more time and practice when learning to read and spell, and provision is made for them through ‘keep-up’ and ‘catch-up’ intervention sessions in addition to the whole class phonics sessions. 
• At the end of each half term, children are assessed. This ensures the next steps are planned for to close any gaps within individual classes and individual children.  
• Children have books matched to their reading ability.   
• All our staff are trained to be able to deliver a consistent and progressive approach and we benefit from dedicated support staff who add additional support where needed. 

What does a phonics lesson look like? 

• All children take part in the phonics session  
• All lessons are scripted so teaches show fidelity to the programme  
• Teachers are consistent in our language  
• 3 parts to the lesson – review, main learning, reading and writing in connected text 
• Children ‘say the sounds and read the words’ and use that language themselves  
• Error corrections are used by the teacher when a child makes a mistake 

How can I help my child to learn to read and spell?  

School and home work closely together to support your child’s learning. We run regular workshops to share our approach from early years. We run in class sessions where parents are invited in to watch the sessions and we also offer a bespoke 1:1 session with the phonics lead to provide additional targeted support.  

We encourage all of our parents to access the free Sounds-Write online course for parents:  Help your child to read and write  so that they are well-informed about how best to support their children with their reading. 

Please also see our phonics videos which help with the pronunciation of the sounds.

Phonics Videos for Parents

One Letter Making One Sound

Two Letters Making One Sound

Extended Code