Curriculum Intent Reading – St Anne’s C of E (A) Primary School

Phonics and Reading

At St. Anne’s Church of England Primary school, we are determined that every child will learn to read and develop a lifelong love of books regardless of their background, needs or abilities.

High quality phonics teaching takes priority in FS2 and KS1 and is taught systematically every day by rigorously following the Monster Phonics Programme (A government validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme – SSP).

Teachers and practitioners have clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress. Following every lesson, the teacher identifies the children who have not ‘kept up’ and a same day intervention is delivered. This approach allows gaps in phonic knowledge to be addressed before the next phonics lesson. In addition to daily formative assessment for learning, summative assessments are completed for reading, spelling, Common Exception Words (CEW) and High Frequency Words (HFW)  in line with the Monster Phonics assessment timetable.

In FS2 and Key Stage 1, children read Monster Phonics decodable books at school with an adult every week. Children are heard read either 1:1 or in a small group. Parents and children are encouraged to read the same book, either as an eBook or a physical reading book, at home. This approach allows children to apply the phonic skills taught in the phonic lessons when practising their reading. Teachers use Monster Phonics assessment and the Monster Phonics placement chart to match books to the children’s phonic knowledge, ensuring they are reading books with 90% accuracy.  

In addition to the Monster Phonics reading books children also choose a library book to share with an adult at home. The children select these books themselves.  The aim is to foster a love of books and experience pleasure from reading.

Automatic, fluent readers who have excellent comprehension and engagement is our ultimate goal by the end of KS1.

Phonics Screening Check - Workshop for Parents April 2022

Parents and carers of pupils in Year 1 and identified children in Y2 were invited to attend a Phonic Screening Workshop. The aim of this workshop was to give parents information about the national Phonics Screening Check, which will take place across the country on W/C 6th June 2022, and to offer advice on how parents can best support their children at home. We offered to times 2.45pm to coordinate with school pick up and 5pm to make it more accessible for working parents. 

 We aimed to make the workshop purposeful and informative as well as being welcoming and informal. We were delighted  with how the workshop was received by our parents judging by our parental feedback forms.

"Really useful session. Clear explanations, lots of detail. I feel I have a much better understanding of the whole process now. Thank you for your time. :)"

"Brilliant. Made me feel at ease."

"Really well presented, easy to follow and helpful for parents to be able to understand the learning process."

Phonics Workshop - Autumn Term 2021

Every year we hold a phonic workshop for parents, carers and volunteers in school to attend. The intention of the workshop is to inform the adults supporting children in early reading and writing to understand the teaching of phonics. This is the principle way early reading and writing is taught. We understand phonics may seem mystifying and aim to help you understand it in order that you feel better equipped to help and support your child. If you are unable to attend the workshop or feel you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact someone in school. We are happy to help.

Thank you to all the parents who attended the workshop and for your positive feedback. We are pleased you found it useful.

The PowerPoint we used during our presentation is below, for your information.

Mrs Tyrrell and Miss Robinson

Phonics Policy - Currently being updated