Phonics at Haddon

At Haddon, we believe all children should become competent readers who choose to read. To achieve this, we have a carefully planned approach that is implemented with rigour and fidelity. An essential element of this is our DfE-Validated phonics programme, No Nonsense Phonics.

The No Nonsense Phonics (Skills) programme provides a comprehensive step-by-step method for teaching reading, handwriting and spelling. Author Debbie Hepplewhite guides the teacher and the learner through a series of carefully designed routines to master the complex English Alphabetic Code.

The programme:

• Provides systematic and rigorous phonics teaching and pupil practice from code to word to text level with a content-rich vocabulary-with incidental phonics teaching as required
• Teaches handwriting of upper case and lower case letters and letter groups linked to the Alphabet and the English Alphabetic Code
• Applies and extends phonics to reading and writing cumulative text, developing comprehension and evoking imagination
• Builds up knowledge and understanding of ‘spelling word banks’ from the outset
• Involves and engages the learner fully and routinely in formative assessment
• Enables ample revision and repeat reading as required and ongoing marking and monitoring that is tangible to everyone
• Informs parents/carers/support staff and promotes ‘working in partnership’ as appropriate

No Nonsense Phonics provide our children with a high-level of challenge and an opportunity to really show what they can and cannot do. The paper-based approach ensures practitioners, and the children themselves, are successful and know what areas need support. This enables our staff to respond swiftly and continue to guide the children in mastering the Alphabetic code.

• Each Pupil Book (Books 1 to 9) is rich in content, providing phonics instruction and exercises (print-to-sound for reading, and sound-to-print for spelling) with cumulative alphabetic code (letter/s-sound correspondences), and cumulative words and meaningful texts. Learners develop their language comprehension and build up their knowledge of new vocabulary and spelling word banks. High-frequency words, tricky words and additional letter/s-sound correspondences are drip-fed into the teaching and learning sequence. Mini Stories throughout the books bring all the different strands of the programme together.

Pupils in FS1 build the essential knowledge and skills required to make a strong start in reception. Once in FS2, children begin No Nonsense Phonics sessions and complete Books 1-4 throughout the year. Children learn to form all letters and focus on recognising and recalling the ‘code’ contained in their books.  They access a ‘Multi-skills’ lesson to learn a new piece of code and then embed this the following day in a ‘Mini-story’ lesson.

As the children move into Year One, they build on Books 1-4 and progress through to Book 8. The range of code they know builds cumulatively so they can read more challenging text and spell confidently with a range of code. To support our children grasp the Alphabetic code, they also access an Alphabetic code chart. This enables them to understand the relationship between code and sounds. They learn how sounds can be represented with text and that certain letters or groups of letters can represent more than one sound.

Children complete the No Nonsense Programme in Year Two by completing Book 9. This books presents the children with the challenge of seeing the same code represent different sounds or the same sound represented through different code. It is quite a challenge and our children love it!

To help the children really embed their learning, we also give them a reading book that closely matches the phonics they know. They have time to practise reading the book in school before it is sent home. This can sometimes give the impression that the book is too easy. However, just like Goldilocks and the porridge, it is ‘just right.’ Because the children have practised reading the book, they are able to read all of the words in the book and not guess. That means they can continue to read their book at home to work on making it ‘flow.’ To support your child, listen to them read and you might reread parts to them so they can understand how the words can flow. We also want you to read different stories and text to them as that will help them experience far more interesting words than they might find in their ‘learning to read’ books. We also know that sitting together to share a book is a very special moment!

Reading at Haddon 

VISION

We believe that reading is one of the most impactful and fundamental skills that children will have and need throughout their education and in life, therefore we ensure it is taught to the highest of standards, and taught consistently to ensure progression is made for all children.  Our vision is that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities, and that every pupil will be inspired to become life-long readers.

IMPLEMENTATION

At Haddon, we celebrate reading throughout every phase of a child’s development.  Our children’s reading journey begins in the Early Years, where children are exposed to daily phonic instruction and oral story telling. 

As children develop their phonic knowledge and their fluency for reading, we continue to foster a love of reading through whole class reading in Key Stage One and in Key Stage Two. We plant the seeds of early reading through segmenting, blending, and storytelling. 

This then grows into appreciating texts at greater depth through the reading key knowledge progression document in Year two and Key Stage 2.  This framework ensures there is progression and challenge as children move through each stage of their development. 

We ensure that ‘story time’ is an embedded feature in all classrooms, reading across the curriculum is constant and all learning spaces are literacy rich environments, including reading areas in the classrooms and library.

In addition to our strategies in school, we also encourage parents to support with children’s reading development at home. We also promote reading within the community by engaging with our local libraries and reading volunteers. The children are given the opportunity to regularly celebrate reading throughout the year with book fairs, author visits, and special events such as World Book Day.

IMPACT

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school. Attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage One and Two. These results are measured against the reading attainment of children nationally. Attainment in phonics is measured by the Phonics Screening Check at the end of Year 1. However, we firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the results of the statutory assessments. We give all children the opportunity to enter the magical worlds that books open up to them. Children are encouraged to develop their own love of genres and authors and to review their books objectively. This enhances a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles.

Reading books

We use a three-book approach. All of our children in FS2 and KS1 read decodable reading books in school and also take a reading book home to share and love. These books are closely matched to the phonemes/graphemes that children know.  These decodable reading books (big cat letters and sounds books) are used to build our children’s fluency and confidence by providing the opportunity to apply this knowledge in practise and to ensure that children have a sense of reading independence. Children who are beyond decodable books follow a two-book approach, taking home a book-banded text along with a book to share and love. 

Writing at Haddon

Our vision for writing

At Haddon, we believe in a holistic approach to the teaching of English.  Our vision is to provide children with opportunities to develop their passion and skillset for reading and writing in a cohesive way. 

In writing, we inspire and motivate children through high-quality texts and WAGOLLs.  These give a rich and varied literary heritage which enables all children to access a variety of genres and produce a range of high-quality outcomes.  By providing our children with the literary toolkit they need to succeed, we strive for them to become fluent and imaginative writers who can write effectively in a range of contexts and for a range of purposes.

We produce confident writers who are not afraid to take risks and are able to transfer taught skills in a variety of contexts. The children are intrinsically motivated by a clear purpose for their writing. They are reflective writers, assessing their own and others writing. They understand the purpose of their writing and the impact that their word choice and style have on the reader.

Haddon Path to Publish

Hook: Children are engaged in their new genre/text. This is an opportunity for children to be inquisitive, feel excited and curious. This supports children to generate vocabulary and imaginative ideas. 

SPAG/Generate: Children are taught genre specific skills and given the opportunity to apply these independently. To ensure progression within each genre and throughout the year, children are taught new skills within each genre. These are genre specific and also support the children’s SPAG knowledge. The generate lessons are the building blocks to their writing outcome and give the children an opportunity to apply their new learning at length, composing a piece of writing.

Plan: Children plan ideas for their writing outcome.

Draft: Children independently apply the skills and knowledge they have been taught into a draft of their writing outcome.

Edit: After completing their writing outcome, children edit their writing.

Publish Children publish/present their writing outcome.

The Haddon Path to Publish is used alongside the Haddon lesson design.

All steps in the learning sequence have equal importance but require different amounts of teaching time.