The government introduced its statutory phonics screening check in September 2011 for all children in Year 1. Its purpose is to assess whether children can read accurately using a selection of words that include sounds (phonemes) that they have already been taught.

The check contains 40 words, made up of 20 real words, and 20 pseudo words (known by the children as ‘alien’ words). It does not assess a child’s comprehension or reading speed, just whether they are using and applying the phonics they have been taught to read unfamiliar words.

It usually takes around 5 minutes for a teacher or other trained adult to go through the check with each child. Children in Year 1 are screened in the summer term, and any children who do not meet the expected standard are screened again in Year 2.

At Orton Wistow we have extremely high expectations for our children, and have consistently achieved above both the local education authority and the national average.

*Cancelled in June 2020 due to Covid, the children sat it in November 2020 when in Yr 2.

At Orton Wistow, we want every child to be successful, fluent readers and writers by the end of Key Stage One and we believe this is achievable through a combination of strong, high quality, discrete phonics teaching combined with regular, daily opportunities for developing reading skills. The teaching of phonics is a key strategy that is used to help our children to read, write and spell.

Phonics (reading and spelling) At Orton Wistow Primary School we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Orton Wistow Primary School we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

What Does Phonics Look Like?

Our phonics is deliberately fast-paced and snappy, and we strongly believe that the vast majority of children learn to read through the application of a high quality, systematic, synthetic phonics programme. Systematic refers to the order in which the sounds are introduced (see What are the Phases?), while synthetic comes from the word synthesise, meaning to combine (put the sounds together).

We follow a termly overview throughout EFYS and Year 1 which establishes what is taught when. This ensures that we stay on track in our delivery of phonics, and also build in a little time for any reinforcement of sounds that are not yet secure.

You can view the OWPS Termly Phonics Overview by clicking on the link below.

Programme Progression- Foundation Stage Overview

Programme Progression- Year 1 Overview