"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near."           

                                                                                         Revelation 1:3

Phonics 2024-2025

Phonics at SSMJ 2022-2023

Red Rose Letters and Sounds Phonics

launch May 3rd 2022

We are really excited to begin using the newly published 'Red Rose Letters and Sounds' document. All staff teaching Phonics have recently attended training to begin implementation of the new scheme. Don't worry this new scheme will complement the high quality phonics teaching your child already receives. Children will be familiar with the structure and some of the games used. 

Our Phonics Sessions will: 

• Be delivered by staff who are effectively trained and have a good knowledge of Phonics. 
• Model the correct articulation of phonemes and give children the opportunity to articulate individual phonemes. 
• Take place 20 minutes daily in small groups. 
• Teach children 'new learning' but also give opportunities for children to 'consolidate' their learning too. 
• Well planned and adapted to meet the needs of individual children. 
• Have opportunities to record using our Phonics Journals to encourage embedding key English skills. 
• Be fun, interactive and engaging.
• Identify any gaps in learning quickly. 
• Encourage all children to make a swift and strong start to reading and writing using phonics. 

We are also developing Phonics across the Curriculum by:

• Giving children home and guided reading books that closely match the phonics being taught within sessions. 
• Referencing phonics within other sessions where children are encouraged to use the same strategies to write (e.g. Phoneme fingers) and to read (e.g. Sound Buttons). 
• Giving access to different forms of technology to develop and embed phonics teaching. 
• Creating interactive Phonics displays to encourage wider phonics application. 

We are helping to support Home Learning by: 

• Interactive workshop sessions support parents to help their child at home. (Phonics in Action- Sept EYFS, year1, Phonics Screening – Jan year 1, Reading workshop – Dec EYFS)

• Identification of the focus phonic phoneme within the reading logs helps parents to identify recent learning. 

• As children approach the different phases resources are sent home which may include phoneme cards (to play matching games, flash cards etc), phoneme mat etc.

What Phonics looks like at SSMJ

Click on the photographs below to see how we are developing that passion for phonics at SSMJ.