Phonics
The purpose of phonics is to give children the building blocks to read and write. At Frimley, we follow the Essential Letters and Sounds phonics scheme (ELS).
We chose this scheme for the following reasons:
- The engaging lessons can be adapted for use in interventions, which allows us to carefully meet the needs of our children.
- The books are fully decodable and include age-appropriate content and illustrations. As well as the core ‘Essential Phonic Readers’, Oxford University Press also publish ‘Word Sparks’ and ‘Hero Academy’ which are fully compatible with the ELS scheme. This allows children to engage with a range of book genres.
- The lessons match our forward-thinking approach towards technology by providing online presentations and an e-book library.
Leaders: Sarah Phillips and Holly Djeneralovic
Intent
At Frimley we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. These fundamental skills not only hold the keys to the rest of the curriculum but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and independence when accessing the world around them.
We intend our pupils to be able to: 
- Recognise, say and write all phonemes within each phase of ELS
- Use their phonic knowledge to blend and segment phonetically decodable words
- Use their phonic knowledge to attempt to read and write more complex words
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding, age and ability appropriate texts
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- Write clearly, accurately and coherently, using phonic knowledge
Implementation
- ELS –initial training episodes for the Phonics Leaders, then disseminated to all staff members, following the E model – Embed, Enact, Enable, Execute, Evaluate, Evolve
- Initial phonics assessment of all children in year 3 and children identified within years 4, 5 and 6 as needing extra phonics support
- ELS structure: Review, Teach, Practise, Apply and Review
- Phonics leaders deliver further phonics interventions across all year groups using ELS lesson plans and workbooks (4 lessons per week)
- Children will be in differentiated groups or 1:1 to ensure progress is made
- All children will have a decodable reading book to match their phonics ability
- All children receiving phonic interventions will have 1:1 reading lessons with LSAs
Impact
In phonics intervention groups you will see and hear:
- Fun and engaging lessons with a quick pace and consistency
- Happy and confident pupils who are able to use phonics to enable them to read and spell
- Independent learners who are able to apply their phonic skills across the curriculum
- Well-resourced phonics walls, activities and support mats
- Confident delivery of lessons by teachers
- Challenge and support provided to all pupils
Children leave Frimley:
confident in their phonic knowledge; able to blend and segment words independently when reading and spelling and apply this across the wider curriculum with a love and enthusiasm for reading and writing
Pronunciation of sounds
Please use this link below to a video showing the correct pronunciation of the sounds for ELS phases 2, 3 and 5. You may wish to share this with your child.
Using the ELS Spelling Sequence
Across the school, we use the ELS spelling sequence to support children with spelling. You can use the spelling sequence with your children at home.
Click on the link below to watch one of our Phonics’ teachers, Mrs Phillips, modelling how to use the spelling sequence to help your children to spell.