Phonics & Spelling
At Mount Primary School, we strive to teach children to read effectively. This includes teaching synthetic phonics, sight vocabulary, decoding and encoding words as well as spelling and accurate letter formation.
We teach phonics through Essential Letters and Sounds. The programme aims to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children. We use fully decodable books matched to pupils’ phonic knowledge.
Each phase contains new phonemes to be learnt which increases with difficulty as your child progresses through the phases. At Mount we passionately believe that teaching children to read and write independently is one of the core purposes of a primary school. These fundamental skills not only hold the keys to the rest of the curriculum but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and future life chances. We teach children to:
• read easily, fluently and with good understanding;
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information;
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
At Mount Primary School, we believe that reading and writing are essential life skills and we are dedicated to enabling our children to become enthused, engaged and successful lifelong readers and writers.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One we implement daily phonics and reading sessions, whereby the children learn new phonemes, improve their ability to segment and blend sounds as well as improve their ability to apply this knowledge into their reading and writing. Essential Letters and Sounds works on a 'Keep up not catch up' model meaning that interventions happen immediately within the daily lesson or through short, targeted 1:1 sessions later that day so children do not fall behind. The core philosphy is "Getting all children to read well, quickly." with the goal of fluent, independent reading and writing by the end of Key Stage 1.
Children in the early years and Key Stage 1 will only bring home books that contain the sounds they have already been taught in class, ensuring they can read with success and build confidence. Essential Letters and Sounds recommends that children re-read their assigned phonic book at least 4 times a week. The first read is for decoding, while the subsequent reads build vital fluency, comprehension, and automatic word recognition. In the Summer term of Year 1, children complete the statutory national Phonics Screening Check to assess their decoding skills.
By the time children reach Key Stage Two we aim for children to be free readers. Children are able to select texts to read at home from a wide variety of books directed through careful selection of books available in classrooms. We continue to inspire a love of reading and develop comprehension skills through the carefully selected books, which we use for our Literacy teaching. If necessary, Key Stage Two children will receive additonal phonics teaching and also regular reading support sessions. This would be something the we would discuss with you, should your child require this support.
As the children progress from phonics lessons to spelling, we follow the award-recognised Ready Steady Spell by Literacy Counts to ensure that all pupils become fluent, accurate spellers. Our spelling curriculum is research-informed and impact-proven, helping children secure the essential skills and strategies they need to spell confidently across the curriculum. Through engaging activities, consistent teaching routines and regular opportunities to revisit prior learning, we help children move spelling knowledge into their long-term memory. Our aim is to build confident writers who are equipped with the tools they need to communicate clearly and effectively. Spelling is taught in a clear and systematic way, with regular reviews and assessments.
The phonics subject leader is: Mrs. Danielle Barron
The English subject leader is: Mrs Stones
Please see the videos below to hear how the sounds are pronounced