Early Reading and Phonics

What Phonics system does Olveston School use?

At Olveston Primary School, we teach phonics using the Twinkl Phonics programme. The children’s phonics journey starts from the moment they join our school in September, where they experience a wealth of listening activities and this journey develops throughout their school years.

What do the children learn and by when?

In Reception, phonics starts in the first few weeks. The children learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘tricky’ or common exception words for Levels 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. Children leave Reception being able to apply the phonemes taught within Level 2, 3 and 4 of Twinkl Phonics.

In Year 1 through Level 5, they learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional ‘tricky’ words. By the end of Year 1, children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. Towards the end of Year 1, all children are screened using the national Phonics Screening Check.

In Year 2, phonics continues through Level 6. The children’s knowledge of spelling patterns is developed further as well as spelling rules for adding prefixes and suffixes. They learn to spell more common exception words as well as developing their understanding of grammar rules.  Any child who does not meet age related expectations in Year 1 will continue to receive support to close identified gaps.

To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to catch up through bespoke 1-1 precision teaching, and segmenting and blending interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure these interventions have impact.

You can find out more details about what is taught in each year group in the ‘Phonics Introduction for Parents‘ document.