Phonics & Reading Schemes
“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world"
Malala Yousafzi
Vision and Rationale
At Mendip Green Primary School, we believe that phonics is the key that unlocks the door to reading and writing. When children master phonics, they gain the confidence and skills to explore books, express their ideas, and enjoy the lifelong benefits of literacy. Our aim is simple: every child should leave our school as a fluent, enthusiastic reader and writer, ready to succeed in the wider world.
Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a child’s education. Strong phonics teaching gives children the tools to decode words, understand meaning, and develop a love of reading. This foundation supports every subject they will study and opens up opportunities far beyond the classroom.
The knowledge children acquire to support their development of early reading is equally as relevant for their development as a writer. It is important that children are given equal opportunities to practise and apply their phonics skills in writing and reading tasks so that they can understand the relationship between decoding skills for reading and encoding skills for spelling. These skills are underpinned by the modelling and teaching of good listening skills, combined with frequent opportunities to improve children’s visual and auditory memory and their ability to sequence. These skills are developed through the teaching of activities to promote phonological and phonemic awareness in young children before they embark on a systematic phonics program.
We follow the Extend Letters and Sounds programme because it is designed to meet the needs of every individual child. This means:
- Keep up, not catch up – Children are supported from the very start so they stay on track, rather than falling behind and needing to catch up later.
- Inclusive and ambitious – The programme addresses the needs of all learners, including those who face additional challenges such as disadvantage or special educational needs.
- Equal chance of success – Every child deserves the same opportunity to become a confident reader and writer, and our approach ensures that no one is left behind.
We know that achieving this is not always easy. For some children, particularly those with additional needs, learning to read can feel like climbing a mountain. That is why our teaching is systematic and consistent, and our support is tailored to each child. Together, we make sure that every child has the best possible start on their literacy journey.
Phonics Programme
We follow Extend Letters and Sounds – a complete curriculum for phonics, early reading and writing.
This is a validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme. Children begin this programme in EYFS and continue it into the first part of Year 2 where it is superseded by the Extend Spelling Programme.
The Phonics Programme is a 9 step approach to the systematic teaching of phonics. The central principles involve:
- Children having knowledge of the alphabetic code;
- Children having the skill to blend to read;
- Children having the skill to segment to spell;
- Children understanding these as a reversible process
Alongside daily teaching of phonics, activities and opportunities are provided within the learning environment for children to apply and consolidate their learning.
Overview
Decodable Reading Scheme
The Extend Letters and Sounds Programme is aligned with the Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds reading scheme. However, it is also compatible with many other reading schemes. We, therefore, supplement Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds reading scheme with Phonics Bug, Jelly and Bean and Oxford Reading Tree. Each book is carefully matched to the Phonic Steps and Sets set out in Extend Letters and Sounds. This is of significant benefit to our children as they experience books from a range of publishers.
It is vital that early reading is undertaken through the use of phonetically decodable texts and, therefore, we ensure that the first books the children receive to read are matched to the phonic step they have secured. Phonetically decodable books are organised by phonetic step with a clear progression that is in line with our phonics programme. This allows us to ensure that each child is accessing books which are matched to their current level of need and complement their phonetic development. The correct level of text will both inspire and enthuse, whilst nurturing their reading ability. This ensures that children will progress rapidly with both their decoding and understanding of a text. Understanding is the key to enjoyment; text comprehension starts straight away in EYFS with class story time.
Our aim is to enable each child to gain a love for reading and writing which will last a life time.
For further information about the our broader English curriculum see English.
Further information about Extend Letters and Sounds can be found on the Extend Learning Academies Network (ELAN) website:
