I’d like to start with a message from the Phonics Screening Check. Before discussing why you need a whole school approach to teaching phonics, it’s important to answer the question: what is the purpose of the phonics screening check? ‘The purpose of the phonics screening check will be to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard.’ (Standards & Testing Agency, 2017) There is a particular phrase that stands out to me… ‘The purpose of the phonics screening check will be to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate ..read more

ICYMI: I was delighted to be invited to talk all things phonics, phonics screening check, and KS2 spelling, with Kieran at the Thinking Deeply About Primary Education podcast. You can listen on your chosen podcast streaming service here ..read more

There was a time that humans on the African savannah needed to jump to plausible conclusions as a matter of survival. They needed to be aware of the location of food sources, and they needed to be prepared for predators. Evolution has prepared the human brain to jump to plausible conclusions. This predisposition for jumping to conclusions may lead us to identifying false patterns or rejecting alternative viewpoints. Apparently, the Reading Wars have ended. However, as someone whose role is primarily concerned with professional development in the teaching of reading and spelling, I am not convi ..read more

What is the purpose of the phonics screening check? The purpose of the check is, ‘to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard’ (Standards and Testing Agency, 2017). There’s a particular phrase that stands out to me: ‘to an age-appropriate standard’. What is that ‘age-appropriate standard’? Passing the phonics screening check is indicative of a child working at the minimum expected standard for the end of Year 1 (STA, 2017), and they should be able to decode: all items with simple structures containing single letters and consonant digraphs ( s a t ..read more

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.” Department for Education (2014) The National Curriculum. English Appendix 1: Spelling. [Online]. In addition to the spelling objectives, the National Curriculum provides statutory word lists for Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6.  Please find the Year 5 and 6 word list arranged by sound (to assist the teac ..read more

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.” Department for Education (2014) The National Curriculum. English Appendix 1: Spelling. [Online]. In Year 5 and 6, students are introduced to new code knowledge (alternative spellings and alternative pronunciations), homophones (and near homophones), inflectional affixes, derivational affixes and final stable ..read more

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.” Department for Education (2014) The National Curriculum. English Appendix 1: Spelling. [Online]. In addition to the spelling objectives, the National Curriculum provides statutory word lists for Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6.  Please find the Year 3 and 4 word list arranged by sound (to assist the teac ..read more

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.” Department for Education (2014) The National Curriculum. English Appendix 1: Spelling. [Online]. In Year 3 and 4, students are introduced to new code knowledge (alternative spellings and alternative pronunciations), homophones (and near homophones), inflectional affixes, derivational affixes and final stable ..read more