Phonics at Silverwood School

At Silverwood School, we aim for all pupils to develop a love of stories, books and reading. Books are an integral part of our curriculum and our classroom environment. We see all of our pupils as readers and we ensure that phonics and spelling is taught across all Key Stages.
​

What is Phonics?

Phonics is a way of teaching pupils how to read and write. It helps pupils to hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another. Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they are combined will help pupils to decode words as they read. Understanding Phonics will also help pupils know which letters to use when they are writing words. Learning this skill is often the beginning of a pupil’s journey to learning to read. 
​

---

Phonics in Key Stage 1 and 2

From EYFS to Year 6, pupils are taught using the DfE Approved Twinkl Phonics Scheme.

​​In Key Stage 1 and 2, discrete Phonics sessions are taught daily across all three curriculum pathways. Pupils are grouped according to their current need and assessed termly, which allows ​for timely challenge or support.

---

Phonics Instruction in Key Stage 3 and 4

Within the Pre and Semi Formal Pathway, pupils continue to receive daily Phonics teaching using Twinkl Phonics.
Within the Formal Pathway pupils receive discrete spelling and Phonics sessions 3 times per week in addition to their English lessons. They will be offered Twinkl Phonics, That Spelling Thing and/or Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) sessions, dependent on need.

In addition to Phonics lessons, all students across the school have access to:

• Additional Twinkl Phonics resources following the Twinkl Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP).
• Spelling sessions following ‘That Spelling Thing’ approach.
• Reading schemes aligned to our chosen SSP mapped across the curriculum pathways.
• Opportunities to choose a book to share/read with an adult.
• Experience of high quality, age appropriate texts.
• Free access to a wide range reading material for pleasure.
• Opportunities to access further targeted interventions.
• IT devices that augment communication and support reading.
• Parents supported to share books and to read with their pupils at home and to record their progress in a reading record.

Measuring Impact

​Each pupil will be baseline assessed and their phonic knowledge will be assessed and monitored termly. This data will be used to inform provision. Groupings are flexible and pupils are able to move between groups to allow for timely challenge and support.
 
At Silverwood, we recognise that assessment data will demonstrate the progression of pupils’ reading and spelling skills. The impact of our Phonics provision will also be demonstrated by pupil’s engagement with stories, their enthusiasm for sharing books and their growing independence in engaging with texts at home and school.