Aims and Objectives

It is our aim to ensure that our children:

· develop speaking and listening skills as preparatory to learning phonic knowledge and skills;

· receive high quality phonic work at the stage they are working at

· ensure all children leave nursery with the key skills needed to develop as fluent readers

Principles

Being able to read is the most important skill children will learn during their early schooling and has far-reaching implications for lifelong confidence and well-being.

The independent review of early reading conducted by Jim Rose confirmed that ‘high quality phonic work’ should be the prime means for teaching children how to read and spell words. The review also highlighted the importance of developing from the earliest stages children’s speaking and listening skills, ensuring that beginner readers are ready to get off to a good start in phonic work by the age of five.

Such work should be set within a broad and rich language curriculum.

Letters and Sounds is the program alongside other resources and experiences used by Hornsea Nursery School to help teach phonics to children from Two Years Provision to FS1 and beyond to pupils who require ongoing phonics teaching.

Practices and Procedures

Phase One is taught within Nursery. The children are taught;

· General sound discrimination

· Rhythm and rhyme

· Alliteration

· Voice Sounds

· Oral Blending and Segmenting

Phonic sessions are taught daily as a discrete lesson, in small, family groups. Teaching is multi-sensory and is applied throughout the nursery curriculum, to ensure the maximum retention of the taught skills.

Phase 2 is introduced to children who are ready to begin this phase.