Phonics at Magdalen Primary School

We follow the letters and sounds framework which teaches children to read

and write by splitting words into individual sounds. The Letters and Sounds

programme is taught in 6 different stages or phases. At school every child who

is not yet confident at phase 5 has a daily phonics lesson. Children receive a

daily phonics lesson until they are confident at phase 5.

In Phase 1children focus on listening to the sounds around them and start to

think about patterns in what they can hear, like rhyming, alteration. Children

begin to segment words into their individual sounds, for example the word cat

has the sounds c-a-t (we do this using our robot arms!). The skills learnt in

phase 1 are very important when reading and writing and are continually used

in the other phases.

In Phase 2children are taught the first set of sounds. Children are usually

taught 4 new sounds a week. We use Jolly Phonics to help teach sounds. Each

sound has a song and an action to help us remember it! Once children have

learnt the first few sounds they start to put them together to read and write

simple words such as sat, pin, tap or pan. By the end of phase 2 children

should be able to read and write the sounds below on their own and in simple

words.

The letters and sounds programme also teaches children to read and write

words which we are not able to read or write using our phonics, these are

called tricky words. In phase 2 children learn the tricky words below.

In Phase 3children learn the next set of sounds. Children usually learn 4 new

sounds a week. Children continue to use the songs and actions from Jolly

Phonics. In phase 3 some of the sounds when they are written down are

represented by two letters like ai in the word r-ai-n, this is called a digraph. By

the end of phase 3 children should be able to read and write the sounds from

both phase 2 and 3 on their own and in simple words.

In phase 3 children also learn the next set of tricky words which are below.

In Phase 4children don’t learn any new sounds however this phase is really

important. During phase 4 children start to use the sounds they know in longer

more complex words such as the words lightning, windmill and lunchbox.

Children also learn a new set of tricky words which are below.

In Phase 5

children are introduced to alternative ways of spelling sounds, for example

children already know the ai in the word rain however there is a different way

of spelling this sound, like in the word crayon. Children are also introduced to

alternative ways of saying sounds like the letter i in the words s-i-t and m-i-n-d.

Children are also introduced to split digraphs which is where two letters work

together to make one but are split up by another letter, for example in the

word time the letters i and e work together to make the ie sound but the letter

m goes in between them. This happens in lots of words and used to be

explained as a ‘magic e’.

There is also a new set of tricky words which are below.

In Phase 6

The aim of phase 6 is to enable children to apply the skills they’ve learned to

become fluent readers and confident spellers.

Children usually learn phase 1, 2 and 3 in Reception. Phase 4. 5 and parts of

phase 6 are learnt in Year 1. In Year 2 children continue to learn phase 5 and 6

until they are confident at phase 5. All children in every year group who are

not yet confident at phase 5 have a daily phonics lesson.