Appleton C of E Primary School

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Early Reading and Phonics

What is phonics?

Phonics teaches children how to hear individual sounds, blend them together for reading, and separate and form them for writing. Phonics teaches children the relationship between sounds and letters in a progressive and organised structure that enables children quickly and confidently to become readers and writers. 

Intent:

At Appleton C of E Primary School, our intent is to ensure that all children develop strong foundational reading and writing skills through a high-quality, systematic phonics programme. We believe phonics is essential for early reading success, enabling children to decode words fluently and confidently.

Our aims are to:

  • Deliver a consistent, structured approach to teaching phonics that develops phonemic awareness, blending, and segmenting skills.
  • Ensure all children, regardless of background or ability, have access to high-quality phonics teaching that enables them to become confident, independent readers and writers.
  • Foster a love of reading and an appreciation of language through engaging, multi-sensory lessons.
  • Provide targeted support and intervention to ensure that no child is left behind, with a particular focus on improving outcomes in the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

Implementation:

From September 2025, we follow Rocket Phonics, a DfE-validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme, to provide a consistent and rigorous approach to phonics teaching.

Our implementation includes:

  • Daily Phonics Sessions: Phonics is taught every day in Reception and Year 1, following the Rocket Phonics two-week teaching cycle – revisiting previous learning, introducing new grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs), and applying knowledge to reading and writing.
  • Fully Decodable Books: Children practise with Rocket Phonics books precisely matched to their taught GPCs.
  • Whole-Class Teaching: Phonics is taught to the whole class to ensure all children have equal access to high-quality, systematic instruction. Additional targeted support and interventions are provided for children who require extra help.
  • Multi-Sensory Approach: Lessons incorporate visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic elements to support all learners.
  • Assessment and Progress Monitoring: Regular formative and summative assessments track progress against Rocket Phonics’ progression. Outcomes from the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check are analysed to inform teaching and intervention.
  • Intervention and Support: Targeted, small-group or 1:1 interventions ensure gaps are addressed swiftly, including for pupils in Key Stage 2 who have not yet met the expected standard.
  • Parental Engagement: Parents are supported through workshops, home reading activities, and resources to reinforce learning.
  • Staff Training: All staff receive regular training in Rocket Phonics to ensure consistency and high-quality delivery.

Impact: 

The impact of our phonics teaching is measured through assessment outcomes, pupil progress, and the development of confident, independent readers. Success is reflected in:

  • Phonics Screening Check Results: An increasing percentage of children achieving or exceeding the expected standard in Year 1, with improved outcomes year on year.
  • Progress in Reading and Writing: Children read fluently and apply their phonics knowledge to spelling and writing with increasing accuracy.
  • Confidence and Independence: Pupils can use their phonics skills autonomously to decode unfamiliar words and tackle new reading challenges.
  • Closing Gaps: Targeted support ensures all pupils make progress, with the attainment gap narrowing for those who start behind.
  • Strong Transition into Key Stage 2: By the end of Key Stage 1, children have a secure phonics foundation to support more complex reading and writing tasks.

Through the systematic and engaging Rocket Phonics approach, we equip children with the essential skills needed for lifelong reading and writing success.

Development of skills: 

Children are taught to employ a broad range of reading strategies enabling them to grow in their independence. As their skills progress, they will be encouraged to increase their repertoire of texts and they will begin to make critical judgements about these texts. They will experience ‘real’ books, poetry, non-fiction, reading scheme books and other print media. They will develop a growing knowledge and understanding of the conventions of non-fiction. For example: contents, index, diagrams, headings and glossaries.

Overall, the children will be encouraged to read for pleasure and purpose. They will develop the confidence to read independently and fluently, understanding how punctuation is used to add meaning. From Foundation Stage, children will discuss the feelings of characters and why these characters act in a particular way. From Year One, group reading is used to ensure that children understand the text and can articulate their responses to it. They will begin to understand inference and figurative language and subtle meanings within the text. 

Teachers share books with their class daily during designated story times which bring the children into contact with a wide range of children’s literature and ensures that they are hearing more complex language structures and storylines than they may be able to read for themselves. This also emphasises reading for pleasure and relaxation. Many stories and poems will be brought to life through the use of story sacks, drama and role play activities. 

Our growing library includes fiction as well as non-fiction books. This enables children to have a wider variety of books to read within school and to borrow and take home to share with their parents or read independently. 

Reading at Home: 

All children will take home a variety of reading books. 

From Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, colour-coded books will be closely matched to each child’s phonological knowledge and sent home weekly for the child to read with an adult. Other books are sent home to be shared and often are chosen by the child from our school library. 

We place great importance on the support families can give their children by reading with them, and to them, and we have the expectation that all pupils read at home at least three times a week. We encourage parents to come into school to assist with reading practice within any year group. Throughout the year, we provide families with information and resources on different ways of enjoying books and reading at home. At parent-teacher meetings, we discuss the nuanced ways that families can support their child in their reading. 

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