Phonics

Phonics is the correspondence between spoken sound (phoneme) and the written letter (grapheme). In our school we use the Supersonic Phonic Friends Programme (DfE Aproved Phonics Teaching Programme). We use a range of teaching and learning experience when teaching phonics to ensure a multi-sensory approach. We pride ourselves on the high standards and outstanding progress of pupils in our school in reading and phonics.

Supersonic Phonic Friends is a fully systematic synthetic phonic approach. The programme includes the Firm Foundations in Phonics, The Basics, The Higher Levels ~ Choose to Use Spellings and Switch it Spell Sounds, as well as Key Stage 1 spelling rules. The programme ensures children develop passion for reading and the confidence to independently apply each skill when reading and writing. They will be highly motivated to ‘read with speed’ and ‘write with all their might!’

We run Phonic and Reading workshops to support parents throughout the year.

Phase	Phonic Knowledge and Skills
*Firm Foundations in Phonics 1*	Firm Foundations in Phonics offers experience, exposure and enjoyment of sound awareness. This phase is purely about securing a strong sound processing system which is critical to enjoyment and success in children’s later reading and writing skills.
The Basics 2	The Basics 2 teaches children at least one spelling for 18 of the 44 sounds of the English language. Children will use their auditory processing and memory skills from Firm Foundations in Phonics 1 to start to recognise the spellings for the sound with Sam, segment and build with Seb and Bill, read and blend with Rex and Ben and write with Ron. They will learn the early concepts of Choose to Use with Suze for a handful of multiple spellings for sounds. At the end of The Basics 2, children will be able to hear up to 3 sounds in words, recognise spellings and read and write simple CVC words with the 18 spellings for sounds. They will be able to read decodeable texts with The Basics 2 spellings and make phonetically plausible attempts in their emerging stages of spelling in their writing journey.
*The Basics 3*	The Basics 3 teaches children the spellings for the further 26 of the 44 sounds of the English language. Children will use their auditory processing and memory skills from Firm Foundations in Phonics 1 and their Basics 2 skills to continue to recognise the spellings for the sound with Sam, segment and build with Seb and Bill, read and blend with Rex and Ben and write with Ron. They will continue to learn the early concepts of Choose to Use with Suze for some further multiple spellings for sounds and an introduction to Switch it with Mitch for alternative pronunciations of spellings for sounds. Children will learn their tricky words with Tess and read nonsense words with Nan.
*The Basics 4*	The Basics 4 teaches children to be able to hear more than 3 sounds in a word. They will continue to embed their mastery of The Basics 1 and 2 spellings for sounds in words and progress to 4, 5 and 6 sounds in a word. They will be supported by Magic Mack and Jazzy Jack who will help them hear the tricky adjacent consonants that are challenging to hear in words of more than 3 sounds. Children will learn their tricky words with Tess and read nonsense words with Nan.
*The Higher Levels of Phonics - Choose to Use Spellings*	The Higher Levels of Phonics – Choose to Use Spellings teaches children the concept that there are more than one spelling for a sound that they can hear in a word. With the help of Choose to Use Suze, they will find out all about ‘sounds the same but looks different’ and cool and not so cool choose to use spelling rules for up to 85 spellings for the 44 sounds of the English Language. With the help of Switch it Mitch, they will also find out all about ‘ looks the same, sounds different’ and switch it spelling sounds where one spelling can make up to 2 different sounds in words. Children will learn their tricky words with Tess and read nonsense words with Nan.
*The Higher Levels of Phonics - Switch it Spell Sounds*	The Higher Levels of Phonics – Switch it Spell Sounds teaches children the concept that there are more than one spelling for a sound that they can hear in a word. With the help of Choose to Use Suze, they will find out all about ‘sounds the same but looks different’ and cool and not so cool choose to use spelling rules for up to 85 spellings for the 44 sounds of the English Language. With the help of Switch it Mitch, they will also find out all about ‘ looks the same, sounds different’ and switch it spelling sounds where one spelling can make up to 2 different sounds in words. Children will learn their tricky words with Tess and read nonsense words with Nan.