Key principles underpinning the use of the Bridging the Gaps materials
The Bridging the Gaps materials are designed to support the assessment of children working beyond the p-scales for reading but who are not yet ready to access the demands of the Year 1 programme of study. Such children are likely to have special educational needs and may be of an older chronological age than Year 1.
The assessment sheets should be used formatively in order to identify what a child can do well, what they are beginning to understand and what they have not yet mastered. They are intended to support teachers in planning appropriately for a child/groups of children based on what they can already do, what they need to do next to make progress and any gaps in their learning.
In addition, the sheets can be used to make summative judgements about children’s achievement the progress they are making. Summative judgements provide a ‘big picture’ of how well children are doing and, as such, should be made no more than once a term.
These assessment materials will support teachers in meaningful dialogue with parents so that they understand the progress their children are making.
Where children for whom these bridging materials are appropriate are taught in mainstream schools, they are most likely to have identified special needs and will require modified learning objectives and curriculum tasks which are adapted to meet their needs and/or targeted interventions.
/ Year 1 Phonics ScreeningCheck expectations / Word Reading / Reading, understanding and performing with fluency and
accuracy / Retrieve, infer, deduce, predict,
summarise / Vocabulary, language,
grammar and text
organisation / Discussion and explanation,
demonstrating understanding / Reading for pleasure and motivation across a range of text types /
Milestone 1
Working at the national standard / · Give the sound when shown any grapheme that has been taught
· Blend phonemes in order to read words.
· Know most of the common grapheme-phoneme correspondences
· Read phonically de-codable one-syllable and two-syllable words / · Apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
· Respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes
· Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught
· Read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs, including some compound words
· Read common exception words (high frequency words)
· Read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings
· Read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the
· Apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s) / · Read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them
· Use other strategies to work out words
· Re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading
· Check that the text makes sense to them as they read and correct inaccurate reading
· Understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to
· Learn to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart / · Retell familiar key stories
· Draw on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
· Make simple inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
· Make simple predictions about what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far / · Consider the particular
characteristics of key
stories, fairy tales and
traditional tales
· Recognise and join in
with predictable phrases
· Discuss word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known / · Clearly explain their
understanding of what is read to them
· Discuss the significance of the title and events
· Participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say
· Being encouraged to link what they read or hear read to their own experiences / · Develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding:
· Become very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales and retell them
· Show enthusiasm for reading and is motivated to participate in shared sessions
· Listen to and discuss a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read
independently
Bridge 3 / · Recognise Phase 3 (Letters and Sounds) phonemes:
- j v w x
- z/zz qu
- ng ai ee igh oa oo
- ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er
· Have some awareness of alternative spellings for the same sound
· Embed oral segmenting and blending and demonstrate this ability in reading unfamiliar words
· May begin to build words using multisensory approaches such as manipulating wooden letters
· Demonstrate ability to substitute phonemes in cvc words to make real and nonsense words
· Recognise phonemes in vc , cvc and ccvc words, including medial vowels / · To apply knowledge/ awareness of onset and rime to read one syllable words
· Swift recall of upto 50 high frequency words (e.g. from Letters and Sounds) and begin to apply this knowledge in context
· With help use letter sounds to decode a simple sentence
· Begin to use alternative approaches to develop phonological awareness and word recognition where appropriate e.g. the child is struggling to make progress using synthetic phonics. (If this is the case, you may need to seek advice from your school SENCO) / · Read independently short word strings, phrases and short sentences using known phonemes and high frequency words such as ‘cat on mat,’ ‘my dad is fun’
· Automatically recall learned high frequency words in context
· Begin to recognise mis-read words based on context and other reading cues such as illustrations / Through independent reading or when read to:
· Able to give a meaningful verbal narrative from a picture only book
· Use own experiences and prior knowledge to make simple predictions and inferences
· Discuss why an event occurred
· Discuss how a character might act
· Use a reference book for information i.e. a picture of an insect in science
· Answer questions about a text
· Give a simple opinion on a character with reference to the text
· Explain the action of a story character / · Begin to discriminate between real and nonsense words
· Understand and apply simple prepositions in context --- ‘is the goat on the bridge or under the bridge?’
· Recognise vocabulary with similar meaning e.g. other words for ‘big’ / · Begin to identify the ‘odd one’ out from a category and give a justification for their decision e.g words associated with the seaside shell/sand/sea/zebra
· Give simple explanation of choice of what will happen next when given two possible scenarios
· Develop a sense of what’s real and what’s fantasy
· In books read to the children, state why a character acted in a particular way
· In books read to the children, state why a character changed their views or actions
· Discuss and compare story settings / · Enjoy and join in with familiar poems/rhyme/song and recite favourite refrains or sections
· Sustain interest and makes relevant comments on longer stories read to them
· Re-tell the main events of a story
Bridge 2 / · Recognise all the letters of the alphabet
· Develop oral blending and segmenting including recognising the following phonemes in Phase 2 (Letters and Sounds), building on what has been learned in Bridge 1:
- c t n m p a o
- I g p t r n e a
- r n b t h m s d i u
· Plus the following phonemes from Phase 3 (Letters and Sounds):
- ch sh th
· Continue to discriminate between p, d and b
· Begin to recognise and count syllables in words
· May demonstrate knowledge using multisensory approaches such as switches, cued articulation and signing alphabet
· With help, read some final consonant clusters / · Building sight vocabulary through using common themes such as colours or animals
· Recognises familiar words in a range of contexts and text types
· Relates lower and upper case letters
· Choose a correct cvc word to match a simple picture
· Swift recall of upto 20 high frequency words such as : the, to, I, go, no, said
· With help use letter sounds to decode a wider range of cvc words
· Idenitfy the final sounds of spoken words and written words / · With support from adults, begin to recognise errors that affect meaning e.g. ‘the cot sat on the mat’ / Through independent reading or when read to:
· Talk about a personal experience e.g. an outing, a shopping trip, with growing detail and vocabulary
· Give a simple description of a character in a story
· Describe an action of a character
· Show awareness of the terms ‘fiction’ and ‘non-fiction’
· Re-enact a story in role play with puppets/props/costumes/artefacts/objects of reference / · Identify things that go together e.g. animals/ vehicles/ things you find in a kitchen and give reasons why
· Extend the awareness of language linked to time sequences - ‘first , next, then’
· Re-tell a story in sequence / · Recognise emotions and begin to give reasons why characters are feeling this way
· When given two or more choices about what might happen next, give appropriate response
· Discuss story settings / · Demonstratae enjoyment of rhythm and rhyme e.g. choose to play rhyming games or enjoy making up own words that conform to a pattern
· Re-tell parts of a story
· Begin to make up some of their own rhythms and rhymes
Bridge 1 / · Consolidate all the letters of the alphabet by shape name OR sound
· Relates letter sound and name
· Discriminate between p and d
· Recognise and begin to blend the following phonemes from Phase 2 (Letters and Sounds):
- s a t p I n
- p t m o d s
· Find words beginning with a beginning letter sound
· Letters and Sounds Phase 1:
- Demonstrate ability to discriminate sound
- Be able to recognise rhythm and rhyme / · Recognises, reads and understands commonly used words and symbols displayed in the school /local environment such as ‘EXIT’ and MacDonalds
· Able to match key words
· Finds words with a given initial letter sound
· Begin to match upper and lower case
· Identifies the intitial sounds of spoken words and written words / · Engage in a familiar story using props
· Join in verse with predicatable repetition
· Use pictures to decode text/ unfamiliar word
· Act out/ describe events in stories
· Recite a simple verse / · Able to retrieve information from a simple statement – ‘the ball is blue – what colour is the ball?’
· With prompting, recall simple details of activities they have been involved in e.g from earlier in the day or familiar routines
· Relates own experience to story
· Looks at non-fiction book and identifies the subject e.g. dogs
· Use knowledge of story to assist in decoding text / · Able to use common nouns to correctly identify characters and objects in a book
· In a range of contexts pupil can use a range of verbs to describe and/or demonstrate (role play) actions / · Recognise characters’ emotions
· Name several characters in story
· Identify the setting in a story / · Re-read and engage with familiar texts e.g. use book characters in their play or conversations or in other areas of the curriculum
· Enjoy joining in with rhythm and rhyme
AF1 Use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning / AF2 Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text / AF3 Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts / AF4 Comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level / AF5 Comment on the writers’ uses of language including grammatical and literacy features at word and sentence level / AF7 Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions / READING DISPOSITIONS
P8 / · Understand that words, signs, symbols and pictures convey meaning
· Recognise and read a growing repertoire of familiar words or symbols, including their own names
· Begin to associate sounds with patterns in rhymes, with syllables, and with words, signs, symbols and letters
· Recognise letters of alphabet by shape, name and sound
· Use knowledge of language structure to predict what a word missing from a sentence might be / · Select props to represent a familiar text (including on-screen texts), including the beginning, middle and end of a story
· Place events in reasonable order, through oral recount or ordering pictures and objects of reference
· Recognise and indicate the main character, events and information in a familiar text
· Identify the subject matter of a book by using titles and illustrations, e.g. “It’s a book about...” / · Compare a text/story with own experiences
· Predict what a book will be about from the covers and/or illustrations / · Understand the conventions of reading e.g. that, in English, print is read from left to right and top to bottom and begin to understand that stories are read differently to non-fiction
· Sequence illustrations from a text and talk about it
· Know that stories are read from the beginning to the end of the book
· Re-enact or re-tell main points of a well-known story with a simple beginning, middle and end
· Make decisions about which page to start from in a familiar non-fiction text
· Understand, and use correctly, simple terms referring to conventions of print: beginning, end, page, word, letter, line, author
· Navigate simple on-screen texts / · Extend vocabulary, exploring the meaning and sounds of new words, not always in the correct context
· Read familiar repetitive phrases in well-known stories, e.g. “Who’s that trip trapping on my bridge?” / · Compare a story with own experiences / · Recognise books, songs and rhymes heard/read before
· Enjoy rhymes and book language
· Enjoy reading with someone else and joining in
· Show an interest in the activity of reading and choose to revisit favourite texts
· Give information about the subject matter of a book: e.g., say ‘Read me the book about dinosaurs”
· Use props when re-telling and/or reading
· Show preferences for text e.g. chooses to listen to a familiar tape or engage with known interactive text
P7 / · Distinguish between print and symbols and pictures in texts
· Recognise some letters of the alphabet
· Predict words, signs and symbols in narrative e.g. when an adult stops reading fills in the missing word
· Hear and join in rhyming sections / · Show some recognition of props for particular stories
· With someone else, retell some of a familiar story or describe some information in a text
· Identify the subject matter of a book by using front cover and illustrations, e.g. “It’s a book about...”
· Know that pictures carry meaning and talk about them / · Say what is similar between a simple and/or familiar text and own experience
· Predict what a book will be about from the covers and/or illustrations / · Understand the conventions of reading e.g. that, in English, print is read from left to right and top to bottom
· Understand, and use correctly, some simple terms referring to conventions of texts e.g. cover, beginning, end, page, word, letter, space, title
· Re-enact or re-tell some main points of a well-known story
· Begin to navigate simple on-screen texts / · Develop vocabulary, exploring the meaning and sounds of new words, not always in the correct context
· Join in with familiar repetitive phrases in well-known stories, e.g. “Who’s that trip trapping on my bridge?” / · Say what is the same or different about a familiar story and own experience
For 2016 only: