Phonics are the sounds that letters make and learning them helps children to decode words and begin to read and write.

We teach children to read using synthetic phonics through the DfE validated 'Song of Sounds' programme. ‘Song of Sounds' is organised in stages that build the complexity of the phoneme (smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (the letters used to write the sounds) taught. Phonics lessons are taught daily throughout Reception and Key Stage 1 to develop children's grapheme phoneme correspondence (GPC).

Grapheme-phoneme correspondences and tricky words are taught in a progressive sequence, the progression of which is reinforced by the decodable reading material. At Leechpool Primary School, we do not follow a set scheme, but have taken elements from multiple reading schemes such as Collins Big Cat and Oxford Reading Tree to offer a broad range of books. Our 12 book band colours follow in this order: lilac, pink, silver, red, yellow, blue, green, orange, turquoise, purple, gold, white and these reading books are carefully matched to children's phonics knowledge.

More about statutory assessments including phonics can be found on our Assessment page.