Policy

Please click on the image to view our English policy.

Curriculum Overview

Phonics Bug Guide

Please click on the document below for a comprehensive guide of how to use Phonics Bug.

Phonics Glossary

We hope the following glossary is useful to you to support your child with their reading and Phonics. Always feel free to come in and talk to us if you require any further support.

Phoneme - The smallest unit of sound in a word, e.g. c/a/t,  sh/o/p, t/ea/ch/er.

Grapheme - A letter or group of letter representing one sound.  Some sounds are represented by a single letter whilst others are represented by more than one letter, e.g.sh, igh, t.

Segmenting - Children are taught to segment a word into its separate sounds in order to spell it.

Blending - Blending is the skill of joining sounds together to read words.  Children are taught to say the separate sounds in a word and to then blend them together to decode the word.

Digraph -  A digraph is a sound that is represented by two letters e.g. the sound 'a' in rain is represented by the digraph 'ai'.

Split digraph: Two letters, which work as a pair, split, to represent one sound, e.g. a-e as in cake, or i-e as in kite.

Trigraph - A trigraph is a sound that is represented by three letters, e.g. the sound /i/ in light is represented by the trigraph 'igh'.

Phonics Screening Check

Letter Formation

Please see the image below for our letter formation expectations, as described in our Handwriting Policy.

Spelling

In Reception and Year 1, the children will be learning how to read and spell through learning phonics.

From Year 2 upwards, once a child is secure Phase 5, we begin to teach children how to spell using different strategies, through our spelling programme 'No-Nonsense Spelling'.  

This scheme offers an accessible, clear progression in the teaching of spelling.  The focus of the programme is on the teaching of spelling which embraces knowledge of spelling conventions - patterns and rules; but integral to the teaching is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings.  
Our teachers deliver daily spelling lessons and we teach children how to spell using different strategies. We give the children approximately 6-8 spellings each week to practise during lessons and at home - these are words they have been finding tricky when writing in class. Spellings are tested weekly across Key Stage 1 & 2.
 

Click the document below to find out about the different strategies your child uses to practise spellings.  These can be used to support learning spellings at home.  

Phoneme Mat

When writing, children are encouraged to use our phoneme mat to support them with their spellings.  This is easily accessed from our class help desks.

Year Group Spelling Lists

The word lists are statutory. The lists are a mixture of words pupils frequently use in their writing and those which they often misspell. 

Year 1 Common Exception Words 

Year 2 Common Exception Words

Year 3 and 4 Spelling List

Year 5 and 6 Spelling List

How to help at home

Reception

Key Stage 1

Key Stage 2

Useful websites and resources

Reading

Phonics

Writing

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling