Year One Phonics Screening Check Presentation to Parents/Carers Friday 18 th March pm Thank you for your continued support.

Be clear on what is meant by ‘phonics’. Understand how we teach children to decode words moving from set 1 sounds to set 3 sounds. Be clear about how the phonics screening check will look and what this means for your child. Know how you can help at home.

More than a phonics screening check We want to ensure every child can read at our school. We want to encourage a love of reading. We aim for all children to be able to read easily, fluently, accurately and with good understanding by 6. Learn to read, read to learn.

Children are taught to read by breaking down words into separate sounds or ‘phonemes’. They are then taught how to blend these sounds together to hear and read the whole word. A grapheme is how this phoneme is written down. There are around 40 different sounds for the children to learn.

Since 2012, we teach our children to read through the Ruth Miskin Read, Write, Inc. Phonics programme. Our children have a 40 minute daily phonics lesson. They meet new sounds and review others. They then apply these sounds in reading.

At Ashurst… Children are introduced to set 1 sounds in Nursery and are split into groups according to age not stage once in Reception. Children will move through the groups at their own pace meeting set 2 and set 3 sounds when ready.

Nursery Reception

Through the Read, Write, Inc. programme, we aim for our children to read with fluency and accuracy early. Read, Write, Inc. groups start with 10 minutes Speed sounds session where the children learn new sounds and review previously taught sounds. Following this, the children practice reading these sounds in a lively and engaging text. The structure of the programme means no child can fail. Six weekly assessments means no child slips through the net. 1:1 tuition in place for slowest progress readers supporting children to ‘keep up’ and prevent gaps forming.

Set 2 sounds Pure sounds...some bouncy, some stretchy Set 1 sounds

Teaching two letters, one sound ent-tutorial-teaching-two-letters-one-sound/ ent-tutorial-teaching-two-letters-one-sound/

Set 3 sounds

write-inc-fresh-start-sound-pronunciation- guide/

g-r-ee-n s-l-ee-p Introduce new sound ‘ee’ Fred Talk Read ‘ee’ words Review Fred fingers Staff to model this during the presentation.

Every Year 1 child in the country will be taking the statutory phonics screening check in June. The check is very similar to tasks the children already complete during phonics lessons and it will be done with the class teacher. The focus of the check is to ensure that all children can read by the end of year 2. The year 1 screening (mid point) will provide evidence to help teachers plan for year 2. IT IS NOT A READING TEST

The check will take 4 to 9 minutes to complete; The children will be asked to ‘sound out’ a word and blend the sounds together. e.g. d-o-g – dog The check will consist of 40 words and non- words; Children will be told if the word is a real or ‘alien’ word, with a corresponding alien image.

Examples of words

Teachers will conduct all of the screening checks with the children. The children are familiar with this routine. The children will complete the check one to one in a quiet area of the school. We are not permitted to indicate to the children at the time whether they have correctly sounded out and / or blended the word.

The children will be scored against a national standard (determined by DfE) We will inform you of the results during the summer term. If your child’s score falls below the national standard they will be supported and will complete the screening again in year 2.

REMEMBER: Phonics is not the only way you become a good reader. Continue to read with your child each night and encourage them to: Sound out the words and blend the sounds together. Play fred games. Go and get your b-a-g. Re-read to check it makes sense, and use pictures for clues. Ask questions about the book. And most importantly ENJOY READING!

Model Comprehension skills must be developed alongside decoding skills to enable a child to become a good reader.

And finally… Teach a child to read, and keep that child reading, and you will change everything and I mean everything. May we thank you for your continued support. It really does make a difference. As we really appreciate your feedback, please can you spare a few minutes to complete a feedback slip.