Am I right in thinking a school should have a phonics based reading scheme?

[Namechangenurseryconcerns]

Parents evening last night-ds (reception) doing well. Can blend cvc and read simple sentences. Tentatively asked when we might get a reading book alongside/rather than phonics worksheets /'picture cards' to discuss and was told that they don't really have books that can be phonetically decoded.
They have banded books-dreaded ORT, ginn etc but these aren't decodable to those in the first phases of phonics.
This is poor right? We have the songbirds books at home and will continue reading these ( teacher was happy with this) but what about the rest of the children?
Could someone in the know link me some requirements so I can make a polite fuss /help them with funding if necessary?

State Maintained = stated funded

I see the result of good phonic teaching every day - excellent spelling

What academies, free schools and colleges should publish online

Now I am completely confused. Yes, there is separate guidance on what maintained schools should publish online and what academies etc should publish online. if you read the latter carefully you'll see there is no mention of statutory requirements but only what is in the funding agreement.

I think you are confusing what is meant by the term 'maintained' in this context, Mrs. Or potentially I have misunderstood...

Maintained means maintained by the local authority - oversees its funding and in some cases is the school's employer. Lots of education law relates only to maintained schools defined in that sense. Academy - not maintained in this sense as gets (most) funding from the Government, not LA, and LA has no role in its running apart from some limited bits in relation to admissions and some significant bits in relation to SEND.

Sorry that should have read "or potentially I have misunderstood you.

.

“New end of key stage assessments will be introduced in summer 2016, after pupils have been taught the new national curriculum for two years.”

So, in theory primary academies and free schools aren’t required by law to teach the national curriculum but in practice they will do so because the curriculum will form the basis of Key Stage 2 tests

I see the overuse of a phonic approach daily - appalling spelling!

You're confusing overuse of a phonic approach with misspelling using the wrong grapheme. Good spelling teaching has to include knowledge of alternative graphemes - and therefore a 'phonic approach'.

It's not just theory. Academies might follow the nat curriculum in whole, in part or barely. There's more to the NC than just the maths and english elements.

In practice many academies, and particularly primaries, follow it to a large extent for exactly the reasons you say - e.g., performance measures and accountability are based on it.

But not because they are required to by statutory provisions, e.g., in law ;)

But there are maths and English tests and a phonic check that academy students take.

Perhaps you should check what has actually been said on this thread ...no one has said academies have to follow the National Curriculum.

There's more to the NC than just the maths and english elements.

Not much! And a Science TA also forms part of both end of KS assessments. So that leaves very little.

Mrz... I wanted to correct because (as has been demonstrated above) there are a lot of misconceptions about the legal and operational framework for schools these days.

Time to stop the squabbling though.

Op I hope your child's school buys some modern reading scheme books pronto as they are indeed crucial to learning to decode fluently Although when they have you'll be cursing them because they are so bloody boring, yes even the Songbirds ones

Unfortunately you're correcting something that hasn't been said

And totally disagree with phonics books being boring ...try The Titans Gauntlets series my boys love them!

Unfortunately you are coming across as rather patronising and I am in fact correcting incorrect assertions you have made.

Perhaps you should work on your reading comprehension skills.

Not sure how someone can make sweeping 'statements about a wealth of reading schemes then start accusing others of being incorrect.

Bit silly.

Where have I (or anyone ) said that academies have to follow the national curriculum?
My first post on this thread asked if a school mentioned was a state school .

Again feenie, I don't think you have understood what I was trying to say. I am perfectly entitled to my opinion about phonics- based reading schemes and you and Mrz to yours .

Mrz is upset for some reason cos I picked her up on the law around the curriculum. Some peeps can't seem to admit they might have a bit to learn. I know absolutely nothing about the practicalities of teaching phonics. Nothing. But I do however know a fair bit about the law of education.

Is no-one apart from the self-appointed doyennes of phonics allowed to share owt on here??

I'm not upset in the slightest but suggest you take your own advice as no one has said what you seem to think they have.

You said mrz that academies were under a statutory duty to undertake NC assessments: incorrect, not statutory, the relevant secondary leg applies only to maintained schools
And that all schools were under a stat duty to publish details of their reading schemes online. Again, totally incorrect.

I get that you really feel the love for phonics. I really do. But hey you know some of us have something additional to add to the debate, and help the OP make her case of needs be.

What is the problem with admitting you do not know it all???? I find this territorialism totally perplexing!

You could have a sensible discussion and talk about specific book or scheme you'd seen that you didn't think was up to much, certainly. Obviously you won't have seen every single one of a huge range of decodable schemes. As you say, you don't know much about teaching phonics.

As for the law around academies, you seem to be having an argument with yourself - there isn't a single post that claims academies must follow the NC - just the opposite, actually.

This guidance is for schools, local authorities and governing bodies responsible for end of KS1 assessment, including KS1 tests, and the phonics screening check.
The arrangements apply to maintained schools, maintained special schools, academies, free schools, Service Children’s Education (SCE) schools and participating independent schools with pupils in KS1.