Intent

Being able to read well is a fundamental skill for accessing all areas of the curriculum and is an essential life skill which has far-reaching implications for lifelong learning and well-being. At Darley Dale Primary we want to foster a love of reading from the moment children start school. We aim to provide a solid foundation for reading from the start of EYFS, through the delivery of rigorous and systematic phonics teaching. Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured systematic way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. By the end of key stage one all children should be proficient in sounding and blending unfamiliar words they may encounter quickly and accurately. They should have the skills to become fluent readers and will have secured a solid platform from which they can develop their comprehension and fluency. Alongside their developing reading skills, children will learn to spell using their growing phonic knowledge. They will be taught to segment words into phonemes then taught how to represent these phonemes in words, giving them the freedom to express themselves in writing from an early age.

As a result of our rigorous teaching, summative and formative assessments, our skilled staff assess the impact of our phonics curriculum to ensure:

• Children will make progress through the different phases of phonics in line with Year Group expectations and make progress from their own individual starting points.
• Children will become confident and resilient in tackling unfamiliar words by applying learnt knowledge and skills to segment, blend and read words which are real and nonsense.
• Children will demonstrate high levels of engagement in phonics and will apply their phonological knowledge when reading and writing and use the working walls to assist them when needed but become increasingly independent in this process.
•  Children will have an increased recognition of tricky words and high frequency words when reading and apply these when writing.
•  Children with SEND will develop phonic skills and knowledge and they will develop their ability to apply this across the curriculum which will help to prepare them for the next stage in their education.
• Children will become confident, independent readers and have all the skills needed to  develop a lifelong love of reading.