researchED Berks: Teaching phonics from Reception – Year 6 (and beyond)

I’d like to start with a message from the Phonics Screening Check.

Before discussing why you need a whole school approach to teaching phonics, it’s important to answer the question: what is the purpose of the phonics screening check?

Thinking Deeply about Primary Education

ICYMI: I was delighted to be invited to talk all things phonics, phonics screening check, and KS2 spelling, with Kieran at the Thinking Deeply About Primary Education podcast. You can listen on your chosen podcast streaming service here.

Jumping to Conclusions

There was a time that humans on the African savannah needed to jump to plausible conclusions as a matter of survival. They needed to be aware of the location of food sources, and they needed to be prepared for predators. Evolution has prepared the human brain to jump to plausible conclusions. This predisposition for jumping to conclusions may lead us to identifying false patterns or rejecting alternative viewpoints.

Apparently, the Reading Wars have ended. However, as someone whose role is primarily concerned with professional development in the teaching of reading and spelling, I am not convinced that this war is truly over.

It’s not me, it’s you – the problem with the phonics screening check (Part 1)

What is the purpose of the phonics screening check?

_{The purpose of the check is, ‘to confirm that all children have learned phonic decoding to an age-appropriate standard’ (Standards and Testing Agency, 2017). There’s a particular phrase that stands out to me: ‘to an age-appropriate standard’.}

Spelling – Year 5 and 6 National Curriculum word list

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.”

Spelling – Year 5 and 6 National Curriculum Objectives

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.”

Spelling – Year 3 and 4 National Curriculum word list

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.”

Spelling – Year 3 and 4 National Curriculum Objectives

“Phonic knowledge should continue to underpin spelling after key stage 1; teachers should still draw pupils’ attention to GPCs that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far. Increasingly, however, pupils also need to understand the role of morphology and etymology.”

Spelling – work for Year 2

“Once pupils have learnt more than one way of spelling particular sounds, choosing the right letter or letters depends on their either having made a conscious effort to learn the words or having absorbed them less consciously through their reading. Younger pupils have not had enough time to learn or absorb the accurate spelling of all the words that they may want to write.”

Spelling – work for Year 1

“By the end of year 1, pupils should be able to read a large number of different words containing the GPCs that they have learnt, whether or not they have seen these words before. Spelling, however, is a very different matter. Once pupils have learnt more than one way of spelling particular sounds, choosing the right letter or letters depends on their either having made a conscious effort to learn the words or having absorbed them less consciously through their reading. Younger pupils have not had enough time to learn or absorb the accurate spelling of all the words that they may want to write.”