Phonics
Intent
At St Gabriel's, we aim to ensure that all children, by the end of Key Stage One, are equipped with the essential knowledge and skills to become secure, confident and fluent readers. We believe that reading is the most important skill our children learn, providing them with the best opportunities to succeed across the curriculum and throughout their lives. Therefore, we place reading at the heart of our curriculum and invest significantly in high-quality teaching, resources and professional development to ensure every child can achieve success. We want our children to develop a lifelong love of reading and to become confident, independent readers who can access a wide range of texts, opening up a world of learning and opportunity.
Implementation
At St Gabriel's, we deliver daily, systematic synthetic phonics teaching through the Ready Steady Phonics programme. Ready Steady Phonics is a fully systematic, DfE-validated phonics programme that provides clear progression, consistency and fidelity of teaching from the beginning of Reception through to the end of Key Stage One. The programme is designed to develop children's confidence in decoding, blending and segmenting while fostering a love of reading through engaging, interactive lessons.
Phonics is taught every day in Early Years and Key Stage One, with lessons delivered at a brisk pace to maximise engagement and learning. Each lesson follows a consistent structure, allowing children to build confidence through familiar routines while introducing new learning in manageable steps. Children revisit and review previously taught Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences (GPCs), practise oral blending and segmenting, learn new sounds and spelling patterns, and apply their knowledge through reading and writing activities.
Ready Steady Phonics uses a multi-sensory approach, incorporating actions, visual prompts, partner talk and interactive activities to support all learners. Decodable reading books are carefully matched to the phonics knowledge children have been taught, ensuring they are able to practise and apply their developing decoding skills successfully. This enables children to experience success as readers, develop fluency and build confidence.
Children are taught to read and spell common exception words alongside their phonics learning and are given regular opportunities to apply their knowledge across the wider curriculum. Weekly home learning supports classroom teaching, enabling children to consolidate and practise the sounds and words they have been learning in school. Additional targeted interventions are delivered for pupils who require further support, ensuring that all children can keep up with the pace of the programme.
Impact
Assessment for learning is embedded within every Ready Steady Phonics lesson, enabling teachers to identify misconceptions quickly and adapt teaching to meet pupils' needs. Ongoing formative assessment, alongside regular summative assessments, ensures that children's progress is carefully monitored and that any gaps in learning are identified promptly.
Children are formally assessed at the Ready Steady Phonics assessment intervals, using Phonics Tracker to record, monitor and analyse progress against the programme's progression framework. This provides teachers with an accurate overview of each child's phonics knowledge and enables pupils who may be at risk of falling behind to be identified quickly. Assessment information is used to inform future planning and provide timely, targeted interventions, ensuring that children keep up with the programme and make secure progress. Regular progress reviews ensure that interventions are effective and that children close gaps in their learning. Teachers use assessment outcomes to adapt teaching and ensure that learning builds securely on prior knowledge.
By the end of Key Stage One, our aim is for all children to read accurately, fluently and with confidence. Children leave the phonics programme equipped with the decoding skills needed to access increasingly challenging texts and develop a lifelong enjoyment of reading. Regular monitoring, coaching and professional development ensure that the Ready Steady Phonics programme is delivered consistently and with fidelity across the school, maintaining high standards of teaching and positive outcomes for all pupils.