Our aim is for all children to become competent readers and writers.  At Firfield Primary School we follow the Letters and Sounds programme to teach phonics.  In the Foundation Stage and Year 1, phonics is taught daily.  In Year 2, children who did not pass the phonics screening in Year 1 continue with daily phonics lessons.  Those who did pass move onto the No Nonsense Spelling Programme for Year 2 alongside spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary lessons.

 

The statutory Year 1 Phonics Screening Check takes place in June each year.  The check is carried out by the class teacher.  Each child has to read 40 words (a selection from each phase) including pseudo words (eg. zog). The pass mark changes each year but is usually between 32 and 34.  If your child does not pass at the end of Year 1, they will get extra support and re-take the test at the end of Year 2.

 

Phase	Sounds	Examples of words
Phase 2 (Reception)	s a t p	sat, pat, tap
	i n m d	sit, mat, pin
	g o c k	dig, top, cat
	c k e u r	red, run, crack
	h b f ff l ll ss	hat, bat, hiss, pull, frog
	j v w x	jug, wig, six, taxi
	y z zz qu	boy, buzz, frizz, quick
Phase 3 (Reception / Yr 1)	ch sh th (th) ng	chip, shop, thin, then, ring
	ai ee igh oa	rain, feet, night, boat
	oo ar or	good, farm, for
	ow ur ow oi	cow, hurt, show, coin
	ear air ure er	dear, fair, sure, corner
Phase 5 (Yr 1 / Yr 2)	ay ou ie ea	day, out, tie, eat
	oy ir ue aw	boy, girl, blue, saw
	wh ph ew oe au	when, photo, new, toe, Paul
	a-e e-e i-e o-e u-e	make, these, like, home, fume

Letters and sounds: High Frequency Words Checklist

Phase 2

a	an	as	at	if	in
is	it	of	off	on	can
dad	had	back	and	get	big
him	his	not	got	up	mum
but	the	to	I	no	go
into

Phase 3

will	that	this	then	them	with
see	for	now	down	look	too
he	she	we	me	be	was
you	they	all	are	my	her