Phonics
At Babraham, we teach children to decode (read the words on the page) using the Sounds Write phonics programme. This is a linguistic phonics programme that teaches children 175 sound-spelling correspondences over YR to Y2 and beyond. Rather than moving on to spelling rules, which have many exceptions and contradictions, children will learn and apply more sound-spelling correspondences (the extended code) in their reading and writing throughout their time at Babraham. The linguistic phonics approach looks at the relationship between the spoken language and the written word. Children will study three main skills to enable them to learn to read: blending (the skill of blending letters together); segmenting (separating sounds for spelling); and manipulating (swapping sounds to develop reading accuracy).
This year, children in Years 3 – 5 have begun to learn the extended code, with references made to words from the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 Word Lists where possible. Links will also be made to the etymology of words, which will enable them to discover the meaning of new words and apply their growing code knowledge. We will replace spelling lessons in these year groups with phonics lessons. Year 6 will focus on the spelling objectives and words required for their year group.
Overtime, all teachers will receive Sounds Write training, which will support them to deliver the linguistic phonics lessons. The programme takes the children step-by-step through phonics, introducing them to the 44 different sounds in the English language and their different spellings gradually and systematically. The programme is highly specified, carefully sequenced and code knowledge is revisited so that it is taught to be remembered.
Phonics is taught whole-class, with adults providing further support to those who did not fully grasp the learning in that lesson or children working below age-related expectations to ensure further gaps do not form. This will enable children to keep up with their peers.
