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English KS1

Key Stage One Tutoring for English

At Key Stage One, children are usually aged 5, 6 and 7 years old. Our expert tutors teach English to help KS1 students develop a better understanding of phonics (blending sounds to read and writing the shapes that they make) at appropriate stages to their development.

Phonics Phases 1 and 2

The National Curriculum expects children to have grasped Phase 1 and 2 of the phonics programme in EYFS by the end of the reception year. However this is not always the case and our approach is led by the child’s educational needs. We also see that some children are perhaps not at the natural end of Phase 2 at the expected time frames for a variety of reasons, including recently because of the impact of lockdown. 

 

For students that may have slipped behind due to a variety of reasons, they may need some extra structured help with their reading and writing skills and we allow extra focus that might not always be possible in a busy primary school classroom. All of our Suffolk based centres provide private tutoring in both one-to-one sessions and in small groups which we really believe helps build confidence and allows children to understand different challenges with their English in context with other children as well as on their own.

Phonics at Key Stage One

Our expert tutors come from schools in a primary setting so have extensive experience in working with children at Key Stage One and EYFS level. They will work on formation of graphemes and (the shape letters form) and phonemes (the sounds the individual letters make).

Phonemes

Phonemes are spoken sounds

Phonemes are spoken sounds

Example:

/k/

Graphemes

Graphemes are written symbols

Example:

c   k   ck

At different stages throughout their Key Stage One journey children may experience different speeds of learning the two separate parts of their phonic understanding. Our Prepped Academy tutors will work with your child to support their development with this.

Why are phonics so important?

Phonics really are the building blocks of reading and writing. The way schools teach this area of the National Curriculum does feel extremely different to how most of us as parents remember being taught but there are striking similarities. The ultimate aim is to allow children to understand the shapes and sounds and words more quickly and in turn allow them to read fluently at a younger age than previously. 

 

The graphemes also help them to develop their writing skills and start to be able to write simple and more complex words and sentences.

What Phases of Phonics does Prepped Academy teach?

At Prepped our learning is tailored to the individual students needs so we won't always work specifically to the phases. However, where we need to, we will cover all phonics phases from phase 1 through to phase 6, which is usually taught at the start of Key Stage 2. By the time children reach KS2 they should be able to read most common words by sight without having to blend the words.

If you are interested in Key Stage One Tutoring for English, please fill out the enquiry form or contact us.

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