Coopers Edge School

We are a Bug Club school and EYFS and KS1 follow a cohesive, systematic, synthetic and consistent approach. 

In Nursery, children focus on Phase 1 which helps to develop children's listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work which starts in Phase 2. The emphasis during Phase 1 is to encourage the children to tune in to and discriminate between the sounds around them in their environment, in music and in speech, in readiness for developing oral blending and segmenting skills.  This will lead on to learning the association between sounds and written letters (GPC or Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence).  Adult-directed small-group activities are introduced throughout the year and are tailored to meet the level of development of each child.

In Reception, Phase 1 continues but children are also introduced to Phase 2 and 3 where they will develop GPC and segmenting and blending skills to decode words. During the summer term, children may move on to Phase 4 if they are ready. Children are encouraged to read at home and their reading is listened to regularly by staff in school. They are given books that match their phonic knowledge in order for them to apply their learning with the aim of becoming successful, confident and fluent readers.

Year 2 is a transitionary year where revision of phonic sounds taught in Year 1 takes place as well as the teaching and learning of spellings following the National Curriculum.

Years 3 – 6 continue to follow the teaching and learning of spelling patterns, rules and exceptions as set out in the National Curriculum. Aspects of spelling revision for Key Stage Two reflect the needs of our children in Coopers Edge based on analysis of previous spelling gaps in Upper Key Stage Two.