WE FOLLOW THE
All Aboard Phonics Scheme
At Hazel Slade Primary Academy, we follow the All Aboard Phonics scheme, a DfE-validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme that provides a structured approach to teaching reading.
Our phonics provision is designed to give every child a strong foundation in reading:
EYFS: Pupils receive daily phonics sessions to ensure a confident start in learning sounds and reading skills.
Year One: Pupils have daily phonics sessions, followed by targeted work and dedicated reading time. This comprehensive approach prepares them for the Phonics Screening Check at the end of the academic year.
Year Two and beyond: By Year Two, we aim for pupils to have developed firm phonics skills including blending, segmenting, and decoding, ready to progress to Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling teaching. For pupils who need additional support with reading, we continue their phonics learning journey with tailored provision to ensure they achieve success.
Our structured approach ensures that all pupils receive the statutory phonics teaching with ongoing support for those who need it, so that every child becomes a confident and fluent reader.
WHY DO WE USE
All Aboard Phonics?
All Aboard Phonics uses the synthetic phonics method, which means that the phonemes are taught first and then children are taught to blend phonemes together to say words. The programme follows a systematic approach, meaning that the phonemes are introduced in a specific sequence.
In All Aboard Phonics, all the main phonemes of the English language are taught and each phoneme is introduced with a character called a pictophone. This is a memorable, visual prompt to support phonemic awareness. For example, the Toad About to Explode represents the /t/ phoneme and the Oon on the Moon represents the long /oo/ phoneme. In this phase, the variability of phoneme correspondences for the vowels and some consonants will be explained.
Segmenting is the process of identifying the sounds in a word and voicing them individually. Begin to teach segmenting with simple three letter words, say the word and demonstrate the three phonemes by holding up a finger for each individual phoneme. Remember to take care with digraphs, which are two letters that represent one phoneme.
Blending is the process of merging multiple phonemes to say a word. It is an essential skill and can be tricky for some children at first, but with the right approach every child can master it. We have a very particular process for introducing early blending, which is one of the key stumbling blocks for some children. It goes like this:
- Introduce a word, “cat” for instance.
- Segment the word into the individual phonemes for the children, which are /k/ /a/ /t/ in this case. Be very precise about saying just the phoneme, not “cuh… a…. tuh”. The /k/ sound is just a little pop at the back of the mouth and the /t/ sound is a little pop between the tongue and top front of the roof of the mouth.
- Blend the phonemes back together for the children into the word. Now get them to repeat the whole process with a word of their choice. Although they know what they are blending the phonemes back into, we find this process builds confidence much more quickly than if they learn by trying to blend phonemes blind, into an unknown word. When they progress onto digraphs and trigraphs, then the same routine should be used, highlighting how the graphemes have just a single phoneme.
Alongside phonics, we use Letter-join resources to teach your child how to form letters correctly and develop fluent, joined handwriting. This digital programme helps children:
- Learn the correct starting points and movement patterns for each letter
- Develop good handwriting habits from the start
- Progress from individual letters to joined, fluent writing
- Build confidence in their writing skills
VIEW OUR
Key Phonics Documents