Phonics & Early Reading
Phonics & Early Reading at Barnes…
At Barnes Infant Academy, we place a strong emphasis on developing a love of reading. Our carefully selected reading spine ensures that all children are exposed to a rich range of high-quality texts, authors and themes, building familiarity with stories, language and ideas over time. Through daily story time and read-aloud experiences, children learn to enjoy books, talk about what they have heard and develop a lifelong appreciation of reading.
Children take home a phonics book each week to practise their decoding skills, alongside a reading for pleasure book which they choose themselves during dedicated library time. This ensures children experience both success in learning to read and enjoyment in reading. By giving children choice, time and exposure to high-quality texts, we aim to develop confident, enthusiastic readers who see reading as something to be enjoyed and shared.
We place reading at the heart of our curriculum because it unlocks learning across all subjects. We believe that every child can learn to read with confidence, and that this begins with precise, systematic teaching of phonics from the very start of school.
Our approach is built on the principle that children must first become accurate and automatic in decoding before they can fully access meaning. We therefore prioritise the explicit teaching of the alphabetic code so that pupils can quickly and confidently read unfamiliar words. This knowledge is carefully sequenced and revisited so that it is remembered and applied with increasing fluency.
We teach phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, ensuring consistency in approach, language and routines across the school. Daily lessons are taught with clarity and pace, enabling children to practise, apply and secure their learning.
Children read books that are closely matched to the sounds they know. This ensures that early reading is successful and builds confidence. Re-reading of these texts supports the development of fluency and expression, allowing children to move from sounding out words to reading with understanding.
At Barnes, early reading is not seen in isolation. It sits alongside a strong focus on talk, vocabulary and story. Through carefully chosen texts and structured opportunities for discussion, children develop the language they need to understand what they read and to express their ideas clearly.
We are determined that all children keep up, not catch up. Assessment is used purposefully to identify gaps early, and additional support is provided swiftly so that every child stays on track.
By the end of Key Stage 1, our aim is that all pupils are fluent, confident readers who can access the wider curriculum and are ready for the next stage of their education.
To support your child’s phonics learning at home, use the buttons below for the correct pronunciation of Phase 3 and Phase 5 sounds.