Class 1: Reading, Phonics and Early Language Communication 

In Class 1 we teach Phonics using Essential Letters and Sounds Phonics Scheme.

It is taught for 30 mins a day from Monday to Friday with pupils in Class 1 being split into separate year groups, with an adult teaching each year group.

Mrs Carlyon will teach the nursery children and Mrs Carnwell or Mrs Clarke will teach the Reception children.

The children are assessed at regular points throughout the year in order to ensure that the teaching and learning is accurately matched to each child’s next steps.

In Nursery the children begin their phonics journey learning Phase 1.

ELS Phonics Phase 1 covers:

1. Listening Skills: Children are encouraged to develop careful listening skills by distinguishing between different sounds in their environment (e.g., animal noises, vehicle sounds, and everyday sounds).
2. Sound Discrimination: Activities help children recognise different sounds, including environmental, instrumental, and body sounds (e.g., clapping, stomping), which helps sharpen auditory discrimination.
3. Rhythm and Rhyme: Exposure to songs, nursery rhymes, and poems helps children become familiar with rhyming patterns and rhythm, improving their ability to detect patterns in language.
4. Alliteration: Children are introduced to words that start with the same sound (e.g., "big blue ball"), which helps them focus on the initial sounds of words.
5. Voice Sounds: This involves helping children experiment with different sounds they can make with their voices, such as animal noises or sound effects, which helps develop speech and sound awareness.
6. Oral Blending and Segmenting: Children start to hear how sounds blend together to form words and break words into their individual sounds, an essential skill for reading and spelling in later phases.

In Reception, children start their phonics learning with phase 2.

ELS Phase 2 covers the following key concepts:

1. Single Letter-Sounds: Children learn the sounds (phonemes) that correspond to individual letters (graphemes). These include:
• Consonants: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, b, f, l
• Vowels: a, e, i, o, u
2. Blending: Children are encouraged to blend the sounds they have learned to form simple words. For example, blending s-a-t to read "sat" or p-i-n to read "pin."
3. Segmenting: They also learn to segment words into their individual sounds for spelling. For example, when spelling the word "cat," children break it down into c-a-t.
4. Simple Words and Captions: By the end of Phase 2, children should be able to read simple words like "sat," "pat," "dog," and "mum." They might also start reading short captions like "a big cat."
5. High-Frequency Words: Alongside phonics, children are introduced to a few common "tricky words" that do not necessarily follow phonetic rules. Examples include the, to, go, no, I.

ELS Phase 2 provides a foundational understanding of phonics, helping children gain confidence in recognising sounds, blending them, and starting to read simple words

When the children are secure in their understanding of Phase 2 sounds, we progress to Phase 3 and so on.

In ELS Phase 3, children build on their phonics knowledge by learning more complex sounds and spelling patterns. Key components include:

1. Digraphs and Trigraphs: Children learn two-letter sounds (digraphs) like "sh," "ch," and "th," as well as three-letter sounds (trigraphs) like "igh" and "air."
2. More High-Frequency Words: New tricky words are introduced, expanding their reading vocabulary.
3. Blending and Segmenting: Continued practice in blending sounds to read longer words and segmenting them for spelling.
4. Writing Practice: Children begin to write sentences and use the sounds they’ve learned in their writing.

Beyond Phase 3, the scheme progresses to include:

• Complex Sounds: More advanced phonics rules, including vowel combinations and different spelling patterns.
• Reading Comprehension: Emphasis on understanding the meaning of texts and answering questions about them.
• Independent Reading and Writing: Encouragement for children to read longer books and write stories, fostering confidence and fluency.

These phases ensure a comprehensive approach to phonics, preparing children for successful reading and writing.

In order to support your child at home with Phonics, parents are asked to join us for a phonic workshop at the beginning of the year, where they will learn all they need to know about phonics, how it is taught in school and how it can be supported at home. If they are unable to attend the workshop, then a copy of this can be accessed here (please open via desktop not tablet/phone):

Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme 

Phonics Screening for Year 1 children

Statutory phonics screening will take place in June. Please find links below regarding the screening programme. 

Phonics Parent's Leaflet

Phonics Screening Additional Information Sheet 

Alongside effective phonics teaching, in Class 1 we like to promote and encourage the love of reading in many others ways:

• ‘Child’s Choice’ story time- the children vote daily for the story they want to listen to.
• Secret Reader: Every Friday we are excited to discover who will be sharing a story with us.
• ‘Our favourite books from home’: One or two story times a week are dedicated to sharing the children’s favourite books from home.
• Individual reading time with teacher/volunteer
• Using books and stories to support the whole curriculum
• Weekly whole class guided reading sessions
• ‘A book for pleasure’ the children chose a book from our library to take home to share with an adult.
• Days dedicated to books and reading (World Book day)

The use of quality texts and Talk for Writing in our Literacy sessions.

Reading Support Booklet

Year 1 End of Year Expectations