At Springbank Academy we believe every child should have the opportunity to become fluent, confident readers. We recognise that reading is a key life skill and therefore it was essential we chose a phonics scheme which provided our children with all the skills they need to thrive.
As a school we selected the phonics scheme, Essential Letters and Sounds. Essential Letters and Sounds has been built upon the latest research and understanding about how children learn to read. In Nursery, our children explore sounds in the environment, recognise phonemes in their names and start to learn single letter sounds.
Within Reception and Year 1, we follow Essential Letters and Sounds Programme.
Our children in these classes, have daily phonics sessions, which include both reading and writing activities. During reading sessions, our colour banded books are also part of the Essential Letters and Sounds scheme. We enjoy books from a large selection of series including Word Sparks, Traditional tales and Hero Academy.
If our children do not reach the expected standard at the end of Year 1, they follow the Essential Letters and Sounds catch up programme in Year 2. This follows the same sequence as the sessions taught in Reception and Year 1. The rest of our Year 2 cohort access phonics daily to further support their development in Reading and Writing.
Year 2 phonics closely links to the Year 2 English curriculum and focuses on teaching grammar and spelling rules including prefixes and suffixes.
You can support your child with phonics at home in many ways such as, identifying letters and words in the environment and in books. Daily reading at homewill support your child's reading and it will help them expand the breadth of their vocabulary.
All books sent home in book bags are matched closely to your child's phonics ability and will include phonemes that are familiar to them.
Our Phonics screening results can be found in the Impact Report section of the website
If you have any questions please email Hannah Clarke (Phonics Lead) on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phase 1 Phonemes
The first step towards developing phonemic awareness is to teach children to listen carefully to the way words are spoken by adults and other children. Children need to observe the way people speak so that they can make sense of the sounds in words. As they become aware of the sounds in words, they will start to notice patterns which help them to link the sounds together to form meaningful words
There are three main areas of focus during Phase 1 Phonics:
1. Teaching children to listen for the sounds in words.
2. Teaching children to use the sounds in words to decode new words.
3. Teaching children to blend sounds into words.
Springbank Academy is a member of The White Hills Park Trust, a company registered in England and Wales.