SoundsWrite

At Freshford we teach Phonics through the scheme, SoundsWrite. This is a well structured, systematic synthetic phonics scheme, validated by the DfE.  It is introduced in the first term of Reception and follows a cumulative sequence through to Year 2.  

Early reading and writing 

A key feature of SoundsWrite is that learning to write words and sentences is taught simultaneously with reading those words. Children are introduced to individual sounds in the context of phonetically decodable CVC words, eg. sat, tin.  They learn to read the word and then to “say the sounds and write the word”.  Their confidence in writing is high from the very start of the reading and writing process because of this approach.  The key skills of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation are taught and practiced from the beginning.  Correct letter formation is taught simultaneously.

Children are taught Phonics in whole year group classes; additional support outside these lessons is provided as needed.  The format of the lessons is well structured and familiar to the children so that they can focus their attention on the new learning being presented. Children are highly engaged and enjoy Phonics.

In the autumn term, parents are invited to attend evening workshops to provide the necessary knowledge and tools to support early reading and writing at home.  The SoundsWrite website offers additional online training specifically for parents.  The SoundsWrite app for ipads can be purchased for home use to support additional phonics practice.

The teachers from Reception to Year 2 are skilled in using SoundsWrite to teach early reading and writing; all have attended the 4-day SoundsWrite training and have been teaching phonics via Soundswrite since 2017.  The Year 3 teacher is also SoundsWrite trained and can support children as they transition to KS2, using the same language and structures that they are used to.  

Phonics progression