Phonics
Subject Lead: Miss Garner
At Wrockwardine Wood Infant School and Nursery, we use the structured reading scheme Oxford Reading Tree, which includes Floppy’s Phonics, a systematic synthetic phonics programme designed to support early reading and spelling development.
What is Phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children to read and write. Watch this fun animation about phonics and understand the key aspects of learning to read using phonics.
How is Phonics taught at school?
At Wrockwardine Wood Infant School and Nursery, we are committed to the delivery of excellence in the teaching of Phonics. We aim to develop each child so that they are able to read fluently and confidently, as well as enriching their vocabulary and developing a love of reading.
To deliver phonics, we use the Floppy’s Phonics programme. This programme is a content-rich systematic synthetic phonics programme that allows for a two-pronged approach to teaching phonics. It allows for focused phonics provision along with integration and sustained support in the wider curriculum.
The Floppy’s Phonics programme teaches the letter/s-sound correspondences of the English alphabetic code explicitly and comprehensively for reading and spelling. It includes the characters of Floppy the dog, Biff, Chip, and Kipper and their family and friends, which engages children fully for phonics teaching and learning, vocabulary enrichment, and language comprehension.
Initially, children's listening skills are developed through the use of music, environmental sounds, and rhyme. During their journey through Reception and Key Stage 1, they are taught the 44 phonemes (sounds) that make up all the sounds required for reading and spelling. These phonemes include those made by:
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Just one letter: ‘b’ as in bed
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Two letters: ‘ai’ as in rain
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Three letters: ‘igh’ as in high
Children are taught the key skills of blending and segmenting to be able to read and write.
As the children grow in confidence and experience, they are introduced to alternative ways of representing the same sound, e.g. ‘ee’ can be represented as:
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‘ee’ as in bee
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‘ea’ as in tea
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‘e-e’ as in theme
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‘e’ as in we
They also learn when to apply simple spelling rules and use verbs in the correct tense.
We ensure that our teaching of phonics is rigorous, structured and enjoyable. From Reception to Year 2, children have discrete, daily phonics sessions where they are:
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Introduced to new phonemes
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Explore, practise, and revise previous learning
and have plenty of opportunities to apply the knowledge they have.
Below are some of the resources we use:
What terminology and strategies are used?
It is very important that children are exposed to the correct terminology so they understand correctly what they are learning and can articulate where they are struggling. All staff understand and use the following terminology with children when teaching.
In addition to the specific terminology used, children are also exposed to a range of blending and oral segmenting core strategies to develop their understanding of phonemes and graphemes. Strategies will be modelled by teaching staff and opportunities provided for children to practise these skills independently to secure their knowledge.
How can you support your child at home?
Learning to read is one of the most important skills that your child will develop over the next few years. The more support and encouragement that you can offer your child, the more likely it is that he or she will make good progress.
At school we are using the Oxford Reading Tree series to take your child through the early stages of learning to read. We are using the Floppy’s Phonics teaching programme, which is a step-by-step phonics reading scheme. It introduces the children to the letters and sounds (the alphabetic code) that are at the foundation of all reading and writing.
To reinforce the teaching in school, your child may bring home some books to share with you. These may be:
- Floppy’s Phonics Decoding Practice books, to practise each set of new sounds and letters taught at school and consolidate learning.
- Floppy’s Phonics decodable readers to practise reading stories and different text types.
All the books have notes on the inside cover to guide you on how to share them with your child.
We may also send home Grapheme and Picture Tiles, Activity Sheets, Cumulative Texts, Activity Books and Say the Sounds Posters for your child to practise phonics at home.
You may like to visit www.oxfordowl.co.uk for further information about phonics, helping your child to read and for free resources and eBooks.
Floppy Phonics Extra Practise Zone
Children can access the Floppy’s Phonics sound books and activities that they have looked at in class online through the Oxford Owl website.
What is the Year 1 Phonic Screening Check?
The national phonic screening check is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in phonics skills to read words and are on track to become fluent readers, who can enjoy reading for pleasure.
Phonics screening check: information for parents
When does the phonics screening take place?
All Year 1 pupils will take the phonic screening check in June. Any Year 2 children who did not pass their screening in Year 1 will have the opportunity to retake this at the same time.
Example of the Phonic Screening Check:
Phonic Screening Example
How is the phonics screening check structured?
The check comprises a list of 40 words, which are made up of real and pseudo words. Within school, children know these pseudo words as alien or nonsense words. When children complete the phonics screening check, they will read these words one- to-one with their teacher in a quiet setting. They can use all the skills they have learnt in school The words are presented as a booklet with 4 words per page and cover the graphemes covered throughout Reception and Year 1. The pseudo words will be presented with a colourful picture of an alien.
Will I find out my child’s results?
Yes, you will find out your child’s results as part of their end of year report to parents. Following the phonic screening check, the results are used to identify which children will need further support decoding. The official pass mark in 2025 was 32 out of 40.
If your child does not meet the expected standard, then they will be provided with additional support to close any gaps in learning and will retake the assessment in Year 2.