Belmont C of E (Controlled) Primary School

Phonics

Essential Letters and Sounds | Resources For Schools | Badger Learning Essential Letters and Sounds

At Belmont C of E Primary School, Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) is our chosen Phonics programme. The aim of ELS is to get all children to read well, quickly. It teaches children to read by identifying the phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (the written
version of the sound) within words and using these to read words. Essential Letters and Sounds is a systematic synthetic phonics programme and was validated by the Department for Education in June 2021.

Our Daily Phonics Routine

Listening to and learning nursery rhymes off by heart is an integral part of the phonics programme in Nursery. Traditional tales with familiar refrains hook the children into stories which they can then discuss and re-enact with props and creative activities.
Throughout Nursery, Phonic activities are shared throughout the day and through discussions with children as applicable. Good listening is always promoted including modelling eye contact and responding to what has been heard. Spoken language is developed and modelled to extend the vocabulary of children and support them in forming comprehensible sentences. The EYFS lead has oversight of phonics teaching in Nursery supporting practitioners to plan and deliver highquality literacy provision.
In Reception, Y1 and Y2 Phonics is taught in daily discreet sessions. Each session will last 15-30 minutes and is introduced to the children at the start, explaining what they will learn in that session. In YR and Y1 there may be two sessions daily especially when new routines are still being embedded.

Sessions consist of four parts:

1. Revisit and review
2. Teaching new material
3. Practising using new skills and previously covered skills
4. Apply new skills in context.

What happens in each part of the session?

1. Revisit and review - When we revisit and review we look at the sounds and skills that the children have previously learned. This part is particularly useful for children to consolidate theirprevious learning. This part of the session is usually fast paced and a quick recap of skills. This might be done through the use of flash cards or simple interactive speed read/write games.

2. Teaching new material – In this part of the session new sounds, words or spelling patterns are
taught to the children. The children learn through a selection of familiar activities to allow them to
concentrate on learning the new material as efficiently as possible.

3. Practising using skills – In this part of the session the children will practise their new skills. For example if they have just learned the new sound ‘ai’ they may be required to hunt for, and read words containing an ‘ai’ sound such as rain or train. This will also be taught using short interactive activities and games to keep the children engaged and ensure that they enjoy their
phonic sessions.

4. Applying new skills – In the final part of the session children will be asked to apply their new skills to a caption or sentence. This could be reading and matching words to a picture, or attempting to write short sentences and captions to match a picture.