Phonics

Through our Christian Faith, we acknowledge our responsibility to all, to enrich lives and shoe love and respect within our school family. We believe in lifelong learning aiming to equip our children to live life today and for tomorrow rooted in Christian love.

For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37)

Intent

It is essential that our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background.

At Christ Church we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Christ Church we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.