Phonics

At Mapplewells, we believe all children should become competent readers who choose to read. To achieve this, we have a carefully planned approach that is implemented with rigour and fidelity. An essential element of this is our DfE-Validated phonics programme, No Nonsense Phonics.

The No Nonsense Phonics (Skills) programme provides a comprehensive step-by-step method for teaching reading, handwriting and spelling. Author Debbie Hepplewhite guides the teacher and the learner through a series of carefully designed routines to master the complex English Alphabetic Code.

The programme:

Provides systematic and rigorous phonics teaching and pupil practice from code to word to text level with a content-rich vocabulary-with incidental phonics teaching as required
Teaches handwriting of upper case and lower case letters and letter groups linked to the Alphabet and the English Alphabetic Code
Applies and extends phonics to reading and writing cumulative text, developing comprehension and evoking imagination
Builds up knowledge and understanding of ‘spelling word banks’ from the outset
Involves and engages the learner fully and routinely in formative assessment
Enables ample revision and repeat reading as required and ongoing marking and monitoring that is tangible to everyone
Informs parents/carers/support staff and promotes ‘working in partnership’ as appropriate

Pupils in Nursery build the essential knowledge and skills required to make a strong start in Foundation. Once in Foundation 2, children begin No Nonsense Phonics sessions and complete Books 1-4 throughout the year. Children learn to form all letters and focus on recognising and recalling the ‘code’ contained in their books. They access a ‘Multi-skills’ lesson to learn a new piece of code and then embed this the following day in a ‘Mini-story’ lesson.

As the children move into Year One, they build on Books 1-4 and progress through to Book 8. The range of code they know builds cumulatively so they can read more challenging text and spell confidently with a range of code. To support our children grasp the Alphabetic code, they also access an Alphabetic code chart. This enables them to understand the relationship between code and sounds. They learn how sounds can be represented with text and that certain letters or groups of letters can represent more than one sound.

Children complete the No Nonsense Programme in Year Two by completing Book 9. This books presents the children with the challenge of seeing the same code represent different sounds or the same sound represented through different code. It is quite a challenge and our children love it!

All of our children read decodable reading books in school as part of their shared reading and also take a reading book home to share at home. These books are closely matched to the sounds/code that children have been taught and systematically reviewed. These decodable reading books are used to build our children’s fluency and confidence by providing the opportunity to apply this knowledge in practise and to ensure that children have a sense of reading independence. Our children love reading and want to read because they can read all of the words in the storybook they take home. There is a visible drive from teachers for our children to be passionate readers, using this as a ‘tool’ to read their way to a promising future.