At St Edward’s Academy we place high importance on reading and having the support from home makes your child’s learning journey even more significant. Please encourage children to read as often as possible at home using the online Boom Reader app.
Our classes follow the Systematic Synthetic Phonic scheme ‘Essential Letters and Sounds’ (ELS). ELS allowed for the most natural transition when adopting a new phonics scheme.
The teaching of Phase 2,3,4 and most of 5 are taught in Reception and Phase 5 and ‘beyond’ are taught in Year 1.
This scheme teaches four new sounds a week and has a fifth day dedicated to revisit and review, and applying reading skills by reading decodable books in class.
There is a big focus on: say the word, stretch the word, segment the word, blend the word, count the sounds in the word and say the whole word.
We are confident that this new scheme will build all the necessary skills for reading and writing that the children will need.
For resources and games to support phonics , have a look at
YouTube clip of pronunciation of pure sounds
In school the style of handwriting is first taught through our phonics scheme Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) by following the rhymes to help with the letter formation. Print is then continued in Year 1, ensuring that all letters are formed correctly. In Year 2, the children start to learn their joins. The aim is for most of the children to be writing in a fully cursive style as they enter Year 3.
For resources to help with handwriting go to teachhandwriting.co.uk
Early years apps to support learning at home
SUAT supports and leads in the set-up of new academies joining the partnership. The services provided by the central support function cover both educational and non-educational support. In terms of educational support, SUAT is linked to the School of Education of Staffordshire University, which is an outstanding ITT provider.