Phonics

Intent

At John Hampden Primary School, we believe that high-quality phonics teaching is essential in helping children become confident, fluent readers and writers. Phonics provides the foundation for understanding the written word, enabling pupils to recognise and blend sounds so they can decode words accurately, develop early fluency and comprehension in order to access a wide range of texts across the curriculum.

We also aim to equip children with the skills to write confidently from the beginning of their learning journey. Secure phonics knowledge enables pupils to segment and build words, helping them communicate clearly in their writing. Our intent is to deliver a consistent and progressive approach from EYFS to Year 2, which will nurture enthusiastic, capable readers and writers who have the skills—and the confidence—to flourish across the curriculum.

Implementation

Phonics at John Hampden Primary School is taught through a consistent, systematic and creative approach, giving pupils a clear understanding of how the alphabetic code works and how to apply it in reading and spelling. We follow Bug Club

Phonics, a daily Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme based on Letters and Sounds, ensuring a coherent progression across Early Years and Key Stage 1.

Lessons follow a four-part structure: Review, Teach, Practise and Apply. Children blend to read words and segment to spell them, developing secure decoding and encoding skills. Sessions are interactive and engaging, using actions, whiteboards and repeated practice of grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs). Pupils progress from simple GPCs to reading and spelling tricky words. Phonics is delivered by trained class teachers, with targeted interventions led by trained support staff to meet individual needs. Sound mats are available in all lessons to support spelling, and adults regularly read with children to help them apply their phonics knowledge to a range of texts. This structured, inclusive approach ensures strong foundations in early reading and writing for all pupils.

Impact

The impact of phonics teaching is evident in pupils’ increasing accuracy, confidence and fluency in reading and spelling. Regular termly assessments enable teachers to identify gaps quickly and provide targeted interventions to ensure pupils keep up with age-related expectations. The Phonics Co-Ordinator closely monitors progress, supporting staff to secure rapid improvement for children. In Year 1, pupils complete regular practice Phonics Screening Checks, with additional keep-up and catch-up support provided where needed. Ongoing assessment, immediate feedback and use of the Phonics Tracker ensure misconceptions are addressed promptly. As a result, all pupils are well equipped with strong early reading skills and are prepared to become fluent, capable readers.