Phonics & Early Reading

Curriculum Statement for Phonics & Early Reading

At Lancaster Lane Primary and Pre-School, we take phonics education seriously and are dedicated to ensuring that our students develop strong foundational literacy skills. We use the Red Rose Phonics scheme as our primary phonics programme. This comprehensive system is carefully designed to support students in learning the relationship between sounds and letters in the English language and focuses on developing understanding of letter-sound correspondences (GPCs, or grapheme-phoneme correspondences) and how to read words by blending sounds from left to right. 

To ensure the best possible outcomes for our students, we make sure that all staff members who work with students in EYFS, KS1, and KS2 have undergone phonics training. This training equips our teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to teach phonics effectively, allowing them to support students in mastering the fundamentals of reading and writing.  

We believe that by providing high-quality phonics education, we are helping our students to develop strong literacy skills that will serve them well throughout their academic career and beyond. We are committed to supporting our students in becoming confident and competent readers, writers, and communicators, and phonics education is a vital part of achieving that goal.  

Developing secure phonics skills contributes to early reading and ensuring that children begin their reading journey effectively allows them to become fluent, skilled and attentive readers – skills that will equip them for life. At Lancaster Lane, we ensure that early reading is a priority in classrooms and at home, supporting children and their families to begin to develop reading skills through application of phonics.  

EYFS

In pre-school, children begin to develop to build their awareness of phase 1 phonics skills, through the delivery of daily phonics sessions using Red Rose Letters and Sounds. Children are exposed to environmental sounds, body percussion, instrumental sounds, rhyming, alliteration and oral blending and segmenting through sessions, which work within a spiral lesson sequence whereby learning is revisited and built upon, giving children firm foundations before moving into Reception class. A love of books and stories are also developed, through shared reading books for home, lending libraries and opportunities for regular story times and interaction with books in the classroom and outdoors.  

In Reception, phonics is delivered using the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme. Pupils take part in interactive lessons every day, with opportunities to read and write built into each session. Individuals who need a smaller group sessions or 1:1 support are supported by adults based on their needs and judgements on this are cohort specific. However, the children who face barriers to their phonics learning and are not making expected progress receive additional phonics intervention in addition to the daily session, to close gaps and secure their knowledge. Resources such as grapheme/diagraph mats and tricky word prompts are available in the classroom, showing fidelity to the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme. In addition, there are opportunities for children to apply their phonics skills within the areas of provision, both indoors and outdoors.  

Children are issued with home reading books within the first few weeks of school. These books have no words and parents are encouraged to share them with children at home, encouraging them to tell the story and comment on the pictures. Once children have been taught the first set of phonics phonemes based on our early reading book bands, reading books will be allocated that contain simple VC and CVC words in, so that children can practice applying their blending skills at home. Parent workshops take place over a number of weeks within Autumn term, to support parents in helping their child to read at home. Staff in Reception read with a different reading group each day, ensuring that all children are read with in school weekly, in addition to the daily reading completed within phonics sessions. Once children have been taught and exposed to phonemes, they are moved through the bands based on the judgements of the adults in class and their ongoing assessments of reading and phonics skills. A child does not have to be secure with every phoneme in the band to be moved onto that book band (ensuring that children have opportunities to practice reading diagraphs they may find tricky) but should have been taught them within school phonics sessions.  

At the end of Reception, children are assessed against the early learning goals for word reading, regarding their phonics and early reading skills: 

• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.  

• Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.  

• Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words. 

Key Stage One

In Year 1, phonics is delivered using the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme. Pupils take part in interactive lessons every day and are grouped according to their needs. Children who are not progressing as expected are quickly identified and intervention is put in place promptly.  

In Year 2, children spend the first half term recapping phase 5 phonics before moving onto spelling rules.  

Pupils sit a Phonics Screening Check (PSC) at the end of Year 1. For children who do not meet the expected standard in the PSC, phonics intervention sessions as well as their daily phonics lessons will take place in Year 2, using the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme. They will then re-sit the phonics assessment at the end of Year 2.  

Children continue to move through early reading book bands in Year 1, based on phonics phases and ability. Children are read with weekly and daily whole class reading sessions allow for a focus on blending to read. This continues into Year 2 and following this, children’s book bands are assessed based on KLIPs year group expectations.  

Key Stage Two

If a child does not pass the phonics screening check in Year 1 or Year 2, teachers throughout their Key Stage 2 journey are made aware of this (through pupil progress meeting documents) to ensure they are accessing further reading support to enable them to be successful readers. Some children will be identified as benefitting from the Red Rose Letters and Sounds Bounce Back Phonics intervention, which supports children in closing gaps and securing phonics skills. Assessments are completed at the beginning and end of the intervention to track progress made.  

All key stage two classes have phonics scaffolds available for children, such as grapheme/diagraph mats and tricky word lists, which show fidelity to the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme. The letter formation patters used in the scheme have also been integrated into handwriting sessions throughout school, ensuring consistency and fluidity in approaches.  

Inclusion within Phonics and Early Reading

By using the Red Rose Letters and Sounds phonics programme, phonics is delivered in a consistent way daily, reducing the cognitive load for children and allowing them to focus on the learning. In line with our Teaching and Learning Policy, teachers use adaptive teaching strategies to identify the support and challenge that children may need within these sessions and put it in place accordingly. In accordance with NASEN guidance, barriers to learning are identified and reduced through carefully planned adaptations, flexible teaching approaches and the provision of appropriate support, rather than through a reduced curriculum. In addition to this, children are given the chance to see and use these phonics resources within provision and displayed in the classroom, reinforcing the learning.  

The consistent use of sound buttons when blending to read during phonics sessions provides a visual prompt for children to follow and the use of phoneme cards, magnetic letters and phoneme fans support the needs of some learners. Additional support is put in place where needed if children struggle to enunciate speech sounds and advice is shared with parents and carers regarding how to support at home.  

Assessment

Phonics assessments are completed termly using Red Rose Letters and Sounds assessment and progression document. Progress is tracked via our online assessment system Sonar, which identifies which children are on track or need further support based on the Red Rose Letters and Sounds trajectories for learning. Parents are informed of phoneme recognition via assessment sheets sent home termly, giving them information on areas of focus in phonics/early reading that can be practiced at home, using suggestions from school.  

Reading is also tracked termly and inputted onto our online assessment system, Sonar. EYFS assess based on termly expectations across the year group, whereas Year 1 and 2 use KLIPs for their year group and their ongoing formative assessment. This data is shared during pupil progress meetings and children who are not making expected progress are identified, barriers to learning are determined and support to be put in place is agreed upon.  

Enrichment Opportunities within School

Through school, there are opportunities for children to develop their love of reading. Both pre-school and reception have library baskets/trolleys, where families can borrow a range of exciting picture books to share at home.  

Every year, we hold a whole school themed Book Week where pupils are exposed to different genres and text types, listen to an array of stories, partner up with a reading buddy and take part in a variety of exciting activities to bring books to life. Reading for pleasure is encouraged throughout our school in a multitude of ways including celebrating key reading dates (World Book Day, National Year of Reading, Winnie the Pooh Day) with fun activities and themed special lunches.  At Christmas, we hold a ‘reading advent’ where a pupil from EYFS/KS1 and KS2 receive a new book on the countdown to Christmas.  

Mrs Govier also has 2 golden ticket readers from EYFS or KS1 each week, who find a golden ticket in their locker and can come and read with her in the office! 

Last reviewed: June 2026

Subject leader: Carla Govier 

The subject leader can be contacted via the school office. Tel: 01772 433641 

Watch the videos below to view information about reading with your child at home and to find out how we teach reading in school.