Intent  

At our school, we use the 'Super Sonic Phonics Friends' programme to ensure a systematic and consistent approach to teaching phonics across early years and Key Stage 1. This programme, based on the well-recognised 'Letters and Sounds' framework, takes children on an adventure through phonics, introducing them to friendly woodland characters representing various reading skills. Our intention is to build children's confidence and proficiency in applying phonics skills to reading and writing, thus fostering their overall literacy development. 

Implementation  

Our phonics teaching begins in Nursery, where children engage in activities focused on listening, identifying sounds, and playing games like 'I spy.' As they progress through Reception, they learn single letter sounds, blending, and segmenting, gradually advancing to diagraphs. By Year 1, children are adept at recognising alternative sounds for graphemes and are introduced to spelling patterns and rules through characters like 'Switch it Mitch' and 'Choose to Use Suze.' In Year 2, we continue to explore grapheme-phoneme correspondence and spelling rules. 

Our phonics lessons are structured to include review, teaching of new concepts, practice, and application tasks, ensuring a balance between reading and writing activities. Assessment is integral, with half-termly whole class trackers allowing us to identify children's progress and provide necessary interventions promptly. Our aim is to create a supportive environment where every child can thrive in their phonics learning journey, equipped with the skills to become confident readers and writers. 

For further information, please visit the website: https://www.supersonicphonicfriends.co.uk/