At The Kite Academy Trust, we teach early reading through phonics, meaning pupils are taught to understand the relationship between written symbols and sounds.  We view reading as the most essential skill a child can develop; therefore, pupils continue to receive phonics instruction until they have secured their phonetic knowledge, ensuring that no child is left behind.

Our chosen DfE-validated phonics programme used to teach phonics is Essential Letters & Sounds (ELS), which has been developed using the latest research and understanding of how children learn.

Through the ELS programme, pupils are taught to read by identifying the phonemes (smallest units of sounds) and graphemes (written versions of the sound) within words.

To find out more about the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) Letters and Sounds programmes, please click on the logo below.