Phonics is an essential skill for children to master in their early years of education. It is the foundation of reading and writing, and it helps children to develop their language and communication skills. Time for Phonics is now pleased to offer a KS2 phonics intervention programme aimed at older children who are still struggling with their reading skills. The programme contains specifically age-appropriate KS2 phonics resources that are designed with older children in mind. Instead of illustrations, lots of colours and borders, we have kept the resources simple and more mature – with photographs where possible. We have worked really hard to ensure that the KS2 phonics programme has older boys in mind, as well as older girls of course!
What is Phonics?
Phonics is the method of teaching children to read and write by linking sounds (phonemes) to written letters (graphemes). Children learn to recognize the sounds that letters make and then use that knowledge to read and write words. For example, if a child knows the sounds for the letters ‘c’, ‘a’ and ‘t’, they can blend the sounds together to make the word ‘cat’.
Why is phonics important in KS2
Phonics is important for helping children learn to read quickly because it helps children to develop their reading and writing skills. Children who struggle with phonics may have difficulty with reading and spelling, which can affect their confidence and self-esteem and also hugely impact their ability to access other areas of the curriculum – in fact most of them! Children who are still struggling to read in KS2, may have missed vital phonics learning during Covid related loss in learning, or may just need some additional support and practice to build their confidence with reading. Quite often, children at this age may have a bit of a negative reaction to reading, if it’s something they feel they can’t do easily. There may also be feeling of embarrassment, especially in front of other children, about their reading ability which will have a huge impact on children’s confidence levels and self-image.
We have specifically designed our KS2 intervention programme with all of this in mind. Working in small groups with a teaching assistant or teacher, children will take part in ten minute short, sharp sessions with age-appropriate activities that are in line with the maturity levels of most children at that age. Of course, you are still welcome to continue using our existing EYFS/KS1 phonics intervention programme if you prefer.
What does the KS2 phonics intervention programme include?
The intention of Time for Phonics is to provide all that is essential for all children to become successful, committed and enthusiastic readers. Nevertheless, some children may enter and proceed through KS2 still unable to read fluently and/or without reaching the pass mark for the Phonics Screening Check.
To this end, we have created detailed, clear and planned sessions to support staff in delivering sessions to KS2 pupils who require additional support, either 1:1 or in a small group. These can be delivered by a teaching/support assistant, class teacher, or specialist phonics teacher.
Our KS2 phonics intervention programme has activities focused around the following skills and knowledge gaps:
- GPC recognition both inside and outside a word.
- Oral blending and segmenting.
- Segmenting and blending for reading/writing.
- High frequency words and tricky words
- Letter formation/handwriting.
- Reading speed.
- Reading and writing simple sentences.
The phonics intervention sessions are based on the following principles:
- They are clear and easy to follow, with few additional resources needed.
- They target specific gaps in knowledge, based on knowledge gap analysis.
- They follow similar types of activities to the existing lessons, ensuring fidelity to the scheme.
- They are repetitive and familiar, so as not to overload children’s working memory.
- They are engaging, enjoyable and realistic in terms of how long children are able to stay focused.
