At Asquith, we want children to grow as confident, fluent readers who value reading and language and become readers for life. They will have secure phonic knowledge and the decoding and spelling skills needed to read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding. We teach phonics in a rigorous, systematic sequence using Read Write Inc, that builds on prior learning and enables children to make rapid progress. In Early Years, we begin by immersing children in high-quality stories, rhymes and vocabulary, before developing early phonological awareness and progressing through a structured phonics programme. As children move through the school, they apply their phonics knowledge to increasingly complex texts, enabling them to access the full curriculum and develop a lifelong love of reading. Reading is prioritised across the school so that all pupils can engage successfully with learning in every subject.

Our phonics teaching aims to ensure all pupils:

• develop secure phonics knowledge and decoding skills
• learn to read and spell with increasing accuracy and fluency
• develop a love of books, stories and rhymes
• build a broad and ambitious vocabulary
• develop confidence and resilience as readers
• access the full curriculum through fluent reading

We aim for all pupils to make secure and sustained progression in the following key areas of phonics and early reading:

• phonological awareness and sound discrimination
• grapheme - phoneme correspondence
• blending for reading and segmenting for spelling
• fluency and automaticity in decoding
• language comprehension and vocabulary development

Our Phonics curriculum is shaped by our drivers.

We aim to promote Wonderful Words by:

• immersing pupils in rich language, stories and rhymes from the very beginning
• explicitly teaching and revisiting vocabulary so that children value wonderful words and the richness of language

We aim to develop Readers for Life by:

• prioritising reading of exciting, high quality texts across the school so children read widely, enthusiastically and often
• matching reading books and home-access videos precisely to each child’s phonic knowledge to ensure success and confidence

We aim to provide Opportunities by:

• ensuring all children have access to high-quality phonics teaching, resources, support and feedback
• closely assessing reading attainment at every stage to identify and address gaps quickly
• strengthening home–school partnerships so reading success is shared and celebrated

We aim to encourage pupils to Dream Big by:

• fostering imagination, ambition and determination through the power of reading
• enabling children to see reading as a gateway to creativity, wellbeing and future success

Asquith Values:

Through the teaching of Phonics, we embed our core school values:

• Determination – children persevere to improve their decoding, fluency and accuracy
• Responsibility – children care for their reading books and return them on the correct days
• Ambition – children take pride in their progress and strive to become confident readers
• Respect – children value books, language and the contributions of others
• Understanding – children develop empathy and curiosity through stories and texts
• Cooperation – children engage positively with adults and peers to develop as readers

Implementation

In Nursery and Reception, our structured Read Write Inc. approach introduces key phonological skills through engaging, progressively sequenced activities. Children build on a secure foundation with carefully planned lessons that introduce sounds cumulatively, revisit previously taught grapheme–phoneme correspondences, and explicitly teach blending, segmenting and fluency. Each lesson strengthens prior knowledge while adding a new sound and new vocabulary so that children ‘know more and remember more’ over time.

Teaching is supported with manipulatives such as sound cards, magnetic letters, Fred Talk routines and visual prompts, to deepen understanding and provide multisensory learning experiences.

Lessons are adapted for SEND and EAL learners through additional scaffolds, including repetition, targeted modelling and alternative response methods, ensuring equitable access for all.

Rigorous phonics assessment identifies children needing extra support, with 1:1 tutoring sessions tailored to their individual needs to accelerate progress and improve outcomes.

By using a clear, structured approach to phonics and weaving these skills into reading and writing across the curriculum, we help children recognise sounds, blend and segment words, and read increasingly complex texts.

In a story rich environment where early reading sparks a love of books, they build a strong vocabulary and begin to write with growing phonetic accuracy. This solid foundation supports confident reading, writing, and communication as they move through school.

Impact

By the end of Foundation 1, children will be able to orally blend words and recognise some Set 1 graphemes, preparing them to begin reading simple CVC words in Reception. They will also begin to develop a love of stories and storytelling as part of their early reading journey. F1 teachers will assess children at the end of their time in Nursery and pass on an accurate picture of each child’s next steps in early reading to Foundation 2 teachers.

By the end of Foundation 2, children will be able to read and write simple sentences that include four and five sound words, some digraphs and common irregular words. They will continue to grow their enjoyment of stories and storytelling while building the fluency and comprehension skills needed for Key Stage 1. Half-termly assessment will monitor their increasing accuracy and fluency so that any gaps can be addressed quickly.

By the end of Key Stage 1, children will be able to read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed to support comprehension. This will allow teaching to focus more deeply on developing understanding and preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2. Their secure decoding skills will give them a reliable strategy for tackling unfamiliar words across all subjects.

Through this journey, children will become accurate, confident decoders with a love of books and reading.