Phonics at Kensington

At Kensington, we aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who develop a love for reading.

Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners.

Read Write Inc (RWI) is the Phonics programme that we base our phonics curriculum on to teach reading. The teaching of RWI begins in Nursery, where some initial sounds are introduced before moving onto a more formal approach in Reception and Key Stage 1.

The structure of the program is:

First, they will learn: Set 1 Speed Sounds: these are sounds written with one letter:  m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, r, j, v, y, w, z, x and sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’): sh, th, ch, qu, ng, nk, ck Words containing these sounds, by sound-blending, e.g. m–a–t mat, c–a–t cat, g–o–t got, f–i–sh fish, s–p–o–t spot, b–e–s–t best, s–p–l–a–sh splash Blending Books and Red, Green and Purple Storybooks.
Second, they will learn to read: Set 2 Speed Sounds: ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar, or, air, ir, ou, oy Words containing these sounds Pink, Orange and Yellow Storybooks
Third, they will learn to read: Set 3 Speed Sounds: ea, oi, a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, aw, are, ur, er, ow, ai, oa, ew, ire, ear, ure Words containing these sounds Blue and Grey Storybooks

Children are taught at their own pace and resources are matched appropriately to the needs of the children. Once children are secure in their word reading and understanding they transition into whole class reading lessons. (See the English section for more information)

Downloadable Resources

Please see the files below that you can download and use at home.

Useful websites

Please find a list of websites that you may find useful in helping you and your child  learn about phonics. Games and fun activity websites are also included.

http://jollylearning.co.uk/ - Games and information for parents

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ - many games to play

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/ - fun games for the children to play

http://www.ictgames.com/literacy.html  - fun games for the children to play

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_home.cfm  - fun games for the children to play and information for parents

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/  - fun games for the children to play

http://www.starfall.com/  - fun games for the children to play

http://www.firstschoolyears.com/  - fun games for the children to play

Sparklebox - lots of resources to print off and help you support your child at home

BBC Bitesize - many games to play covering all areas of the curriculum