At Chatsworth and Burnt Oak, we understand the relationship between the sounds of spoken language, and the letters and graphemes of written language. We use phonics as the first strategy to help children learn to read. We learn that phonemes are ‘a sound’ and that graphemes are ‘a sound written down’. Research shows that teaching Phonics in a structured and systematic way is the most effective way of teaching young children to read.  Almost all children who receive good teaching of Phonics will learn the skills they need to decipher new and unfamiliar words.

At Chatsworth Infant School, Phonics in the Early Years is taught on a daily basis and follows the DFE accredited Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Rivised programme. Children are taught the skills for segmenting and blending words and are introduced to new phonemes as part of a systematic synthetic approach. 

The teaching of Phonics begins in Nursery and continues in Reception, Year 1 and 2 as children are introduced to alternative graphemes, letter known sounds and begin to learn some of the more complicated spelling rules. At the end of Year 1 children are required to sit the Phonics Screening Check to assess their ability to segment and blend words. Children are presented with 40 words – a mixture of real and pseudo words and they are expected to apply their Phonics knowledge to read the words. If children are unsuccessful in Year 1, they have the opportunity to retake the test in Year 2. Intervention groups are set up for those children requiring additional support with their Phonics learning and this additional support will continue in Key Stage 2 if necessary.