1. Letters and Sounds Principles and Practice of High Quality PhonicsRB

2. Agenda 10:00: Setting the Scene
10.45: Principles of High Quality Phonics
11:30 Refreshments
12.00: Introducing ‘Letters and Sounds’
Lunch
2.15: Presentation from Educational Publishers
Phonic Fair including refreshments
16:00 Close

3. Aims of the day
To inform Headteachers about the National Strategy resource: Letters and Sounds
To enable Headteachers to make an informed decision about which phonics programme best suits their needs and local contexts

4. Setting the Scene The Early Years Foundation Stage
The Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading
The Primary Framework

5. The Early Years Foundation Stage
An overview

6. The Early Years Foundation Stage
Legislation in the Childcare Act
From birth to the end of the Foundation Stage
An integrated approach to care and education
A principled play-based approach
Strengthens the links between Birth to Three Matters and the Foundation Stage

7. The EYFS: Incorporates elements of the National Standards
Ensures a consistent approach to care, learning and development from birth to the end of the Foundation Stage
Helps practitioners plan care and learning that is right for each child at each stage of their development
Statutory framework, Practice Guidance, Cards, Poster and CD Rom

8. Aim of the EYFS The overarching aim of the EYFS is to
help young children achieve the five
Every Child Matters outcomes:
Be healthy;
Stay safe;
Enjoy and achieve;
Make a positive contribution and
Achieve economic well-being.

9. Achieving the aim
The EYFS will achieve this aim by a principled approach to:
Setting standards
Promoting equality of opportunity
Creating a framework for partnership working
Improving quality and consistency
Laying a secure foundation for future learning and development

10. Independent Review of the teaching of Early Reading
Recommendations

11. Recommendations
More attention needs to be given to speaking and listening from the outset
High quality, systematic phonic work should be taught discretely and daily and in line with the definition of high quality phonic work as set out in the Rose report
Phonics should be set within a broad and rich language curriculum that takes full account of developing the four interdependent strands of language
For most children phonics teaching should start by the age of five, subject to the professional judgement of teachers and practitioners
Second area of background context is the Rose Review.
Many delegates will have heard these messages before – so this is just a reminder – no need to dwell However, if any delegates are not familiar with them, they might want to note on their log that this is a point to follow up.

12. Recommendations
The EYFS and the renewed literacy framework must be compatible with each other and make sure that expectations about continuity and progression in phonic work are expressed explicitly in the new guidance
The searchlights model should be reconstructed to take full account of word recognition and language comprehension as distinct processes related one to the other.

13. Recommendations
HTs and managers of settings should give phonic work appropriate priority and reflect this in their decision making
At least one member of staff is fully able to lead on literacy
Monitoring arrangements should assure the quality and consistency of phonic work
High quality teaching of reading in KS1 should inform target setting for English at KS2

14. Renewed framework
Learning objectives under twelve strands
Explicit inclusion of speaking and listening objectives within the renewed framework
Stronger emphasis on building learning over time and developing the teaching sequence
Adjustment of expectations particularly around phonics learning and teaching
Closer focus on assessment for learning

15. Discussion
What are the key features of a broad and rich language curriculum?
In your role, consider how you monitor and support the development of such provision

16. Principles of High Quality Phonics
Session 2
Principles of High Quality Phonics

17. The Simple View of Reading
Word-level reading and language comprehension are both necessary to reading
Neither is sufficient on its own
This is formalised in “The Simple View of Reading”
Reading comprehension is a product of word recognition and language comprehension

18. Clear distinction between processes
There is now considerable evidence to support the need for a clear distinction between:
processes concerned with recognising the printed words that comprise the written text and …
processes that enable the reader to understand the messages contained
in the text

19. + - +
Word recognition -
Language comprehension
Language comprehension

20. - - + + Good language comprehension, poor word recognition
Good word recognition, good language comprehension - +
Good word recognition, poor language comprehension
Poor word recognition, poor language comprehension -
Language comprehension

21. - - + + Word Recognition Language comprehension Word recognition vv v

22. Implications for teaching
Teachers need to be aware that different skills and abilities contribute to development of word recognition skills from those that contribute to comprehension
Teachers need therefore to keep these two dimensions of reading separate in their minds when they plan their teaching

23. So that….
they focus clearly on developing word recognition skills through
Phoneme awareness and phonics teaching
Repetition and teaching of ‘tricky’ words
and they focus clearly on developing language comprehension through
Talking with children
Reading to children
Teaching comprehension strategies

24. Core criteria which define an effective phonic programme
present high quality systematic phonic work as the prime approach to decoding print
enable children to start learning phonic knowledge and skills systematically by the age of five with the expectation that they will be fluent readers having secured word recognition skills by the end of key stage one
be designed for the teaching of discrete, daily sessions progressing from simple to more complex phonic knowledge and skills and covering the major grapheme phoneme correspondences

25. Criteria for assuring high quality phonic work
enable children's progress to be assessed
use a multi-sensory approach so that children learn variously from simultaneous visual, auditory and kinaesthetic activities which are designed to secure essential phonic knowledge and skills
demonstrate that phonemes should be blended, in order, from left to right, 'all through the word' for reading
demonstrate how words can be segmented into their constituent phonemes for spelling and that this is the reverse of blending phonemes to read words 

26. Criteria for assuring high quality phonic work
ensure children apply phonic knowledge and skills as their first approach to reading and spelling even if a word is not completely phonically regular
ensure that children are taught high frequency words that do not conform completely to grapheme/phoneme correspondence rules
ensure that, as early as possible, children have opportunities to read texts (and spell words) that are within the reach of their phonic knowledge and skills even though every single word in the text may not be entirely decodable by the children unaided

27. Criteria for assuring high quality phonic work

28. Quality First Phonic Teaching should:
Adhere to four key principles of high quality phonic work as defined by Rose review
Use phonics as the prime approach for tackling unfamiliar words
Engage all children and be fully participatory
Demonstrate correct enunciation of phonemes
Include both blending and segmenting

29. Quality First Phonic teaching should:
Be multi-sensory but tightly focused on the learning goal
Ensure that all children can hear/see the teaching input
Support progression in learning and consolidation
Make full use of additional adults
Be sufficiently flexible to take account of differing needs
Achieve the learning intention within the optimum time

30. Communication, Language and Literacy Development
An overview of the National Strategy programme

31. Taking forward the Rose recommendations
Fifty Local Authorities with funded Early Reading Consultant
Targeted work in identified schools and linked settings
Consultant support for schools and settings
Visits and Cluster meetings
Tracking children’s progress through phonic phases and in CLL and PSED

32. CLLD: Resources Materials for Consultants Material for Practitioners
Collection and use of data
CLLD website:

33. Expectations for schools supported through the CLLD programme
At least 80% children in the programme’s schools leave YR in July:
having achieved Phase 3
reading and writing confidently and independently
maintaining secure attainment in PSED

34. Discussion
For Headteachers, discuss how children’s progress in your school compares to these expectations
For LAs, compare the picture of children’s achievement in Linking Sounds and Letters in your LA with these expectations
For both, discuss ways in which children’s progress in phonics might be accelerated in the context of a broad and rich language curriculum.

35. Introducing ‘Letters and Sounds’
Session 3
Introducing
‘Letters and Sounds’

36. Letters and Sounds: The new phonics resource
Developed by independent experts in partnership with the PNS
Meets criteria for high quality phonic work
Notes of Guidance
Six phase teaching programme
DVD
CLLD website

37. Letters and Sounds- some key messages
The importance of flexibility
Making a good start – Phase One
Systematic high quality phonics – Phase 2 and beyond
Multi-sensory learning
Fidelity to the programme

38. The role of Phase 1
Central importance of developing speaking and listening skills
Relies on and complements a broad and rich language curriculum
Promotes the range and depth of children’s language experience
Introduces oral blending and segmenting
Paves the way for systematic phonic teaching to begin

39. Phase 1 Seven Aspects: Three Strands in each
Introduces oral blending and segmenting in Aspect 7
Adult-led activities
Illustrated freely chosen activities
Continues well beyond introduction of Phase 2

40. Phase 2 introduces 19 grapheme-phoneme correspondences
Decoding and encoding taught as reversible processes
As soon as children have a small number of grapheme/phoneme correspondences, blending and segmenting can start ( /s/a/t/p/i/n/)
‘Tricky’ words
Typical duration: Up to 6 weeks

41. Phase 3 Introduces another 25 graphemes Most comprising two letters
One representation of each of 43 phonemes
Reading and spelling two syllable words and captions
Typical duration: Up to 12 weeks

42. Phase 4 Consolidates knowledge of GPCs Introduces adjacent consonants
No new GPCs
Typical duration: 4-6 weeks

43. Phase 5 Introduces additional graphemes
Introduces alternative pronunciations for reading
Introduces alternative graphemes for spelling
Developing automaticity
Throughout Year One

44. Phase 6 Increasing fluency and accuracy
Throughout Year Two (although teaching of spelling continues well into KS2)

45. Website