St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School

At St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. At St Augustine of Canterbury, we value reading as a key life skill, and are dedicated to enabling our children to become lifelong readers. We acknowledge that children need to be taught the key skills in segmenting and blending to be equipped with the knowledge to be able to complete the phonics check at the end of year 1. We also value and encourage the children to read for enjoyment and recognise that this starts with the foundations of acquiring letter sounds, segmenting and blending skills.

Implementation

Phonics is taught daily to all children in Reception and KS1. Extra support is provided to those in Year 2 who have not passed phonics screening in Year 1 and additional interventions are planned for those children who are working below expected levels. Staff systematically teach learners the relationship between sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them. Phonics is delivered in a whole class format because it enables staff to ensure application across subjects, embedding the process in a rich literacy environment for early readers.

 Impact

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, children will become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school.

Attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage One and Two. Attainment in phonics is measured by the Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1. However, we firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our phonics and early reading curriculum goes beyond the results of the statutory assessments.

By the time children leave St Augustine of Canterbury, they are competent readers with high aspirations, who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry, and participate in discussions about books, including evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader.