Phonics - 5 year old difficulties

[LostMum2019]

Hello,
seeking help, guidance & reassurance

We have a little boy who has just turned 5, he has been introduced to a phonics program to learn to read.

The school provided flash cards with words to learn to read/ blend. They provided the same cards for 5-6 months.

Apparently they have working of the same 8 letters - learning to blend letters together in order to read all this time.

I approached the school and asked for an alternative activity. They returned them to us saying ‘this is approach we use ‘

I explained that our little was upset by just seeing the cards and it was affecting his wellbeing.

How long did your little ones take to recognise that the letter sounds form words.- learn to blend ? How long did your child stay on the first set ?

We are upset for our little boy - that they school are not willing to provide an alternative activity to meet his needs / engage him better. Are our expectation too high ?

Sorry OP, but the school sounds shit.

How dare they demotivate a 5 year-old!

If something isn't working you try something else. And keep trying till you find the key. Or, if there is a problem, the problem.

But it's like giving me a quadratic equation and making me sit there till I worked it out. (never going to happen)

However, there seem to be some super teachers on this thread - follow their advice.

Ds is p2 (we’re in Scotland, I believe in England that is year 1)and really didn’t have a huge grasp on blending until near the end of p1. It really seemed to click after the October term of p2 and his reading has come on so much.
Dd is p1 and took to phonics/blending very quickly. She’s not far off being at the same level as her older brother is now.
My point being some kids just pick them up faster.