Teachers- best phonics scheme

[miniworry]

We are currently in a school using Bug Club phonics but to be honest our children aren't overly inspired by it and progress hasn't been amazing.

We are looking at swapping to another SSP scheme but the government now have so many recommended programs that we don't know where to start.

Can anyone recommend a phonics program they are using that is working well? Ideally we want something that includes planning and resources to limit the extra prep time needed.

I can't help from a teachers side but my daughters school use ELS (Essential Letters Sounds) and as a parent I find it really odd. I don't understand what level she is at as they don't have the same colour coding system as most others have. We know she is behind as she is being monitored for dyslexia but there just doesn't seem to be any parent resources behind the scheme compared to other schemes. Another local school uses Read, Write Inc and they seem to have amazing resources for it from a parents point of view.

Whatever you select, be prepared for the expense! We spent over £20000 swapping over( we use Little Wandle which gives us very high screening check results!)

@spanieleyes I've looked at little wandle but am I right in thinking the scheme is basically just the planning, teachers need to sort their own PowerPoints/videos and activities?

We use Read, Write, Inc.
Brilliant but incredibly expensive. You can use it for Literacy lessons too but we just use it for Phonics.

Yes I have looked into this but I think it's too much for us, we are a small school and I've only been given a £2k budget for the scheme- read write inc looks like it's coming out at £3k!

We use little wandle. I don’t know how expensive it is though.

I haven't taught phonics since they brought in the requirement to use a registered programme, but some schools I've visited recently have been using Twinkl phonics and seem to like it. I haven't used it myself but seems to be popular amongst schools I've been in.

You can sometimes get grants, DS's Primary did for Read, Write, Inc

Read write inc, it's very good.

@Vulcanodon I've mentioned it a bit further down this chat but could you let me know with little wandle whether you only get the planning grids or whether you also get some resources such as ppts or worksheets with it? It's really hard to see exactly what the £1299 buts you without actually signing up
To it!

We use Sounds Write but not sure how expensive it is.

Little Wandle gets you the plans, catch up plans, there are screens with the match the pictures to the words parts of the session. There is also full training and catch up sessions for staff. They also have a load of videos on you tube which parents can also access with their children.

It is very time heavy though especially if you also start doing the reading part as well. We did have good results with Little Wandle. I do prefer the order of sounds with Read Write inc though.

Sounds Write all the way. Best researched, no paying for any resources and gimmicks etc, no worksheets needed. Excellent engagement and results.

Little wandle doesn't use PowerPoints or anything like that- part of their thing is about cognitive overload, so it's all flashcards, which are mostly provided. No worksheets used either. So it pretty much comes with what you need for phonics sessions. The big expense is all the books you need to make the reading groups work!

I like Little Wandles. I cover PPA so only use planning I'm given and teach phonics only every other term. That said, I find the planning is clear. There are lots of online resources and of course flash cards. We use the reading books too which the chn seem to enjoy.

@Pigletpoglet am I right in thinking that all staff need to be trained officially for this?

I worked in a school that used Jolly Phonics

Read write inc. Comes with everything, once everyone is trained its really easy to deliver and anyone can do it. Gets good results. Makes covering groups much easier as you used to be able to get the whole staff trained as a package and then if anyone is off someone in the school can slot in. The head, deputy head, assistant head, admin, dinner ladies, cleaners, care takers and learning mentors were all trained at our school as well as teachers, 1-1s and support staff. If a ta was off we could borrow anyone or (back in the days of flusher budgets) pay the dinner ladies/ cleaners and additional hour to take a group. It wasn't unknown for one of our caretakers to take a group last minute if someone was off and it was raining.

I was a bit on the fence at it's use as a catch up program, but as a standard phonics scheme it was great.

I’m a Y1 teacher and we use Essential Letters and Sounds. It’s not perfect but we’re seeing some very encouraging results.

I’ve taught Y1 for many years and never have I seen children using and applying their phonic knowledge so confidently (both in reading and writing).

Yes, and it's not that cheap. But very much worth it.

I’ve used Little Wandle for a few years. Hated it to begin with…absolutely love it now. Time consuming, sometimes longer than the lesson to prepare, but the children’s ability and confidence is the best I’ve ever seen in the 20+ years of teaching. It also covers some of the new reading framework. The books may cost a lot though, I’m not sure.

There were lessons online on YouTube, maybe have a watch to see the style of teaching. It took me a long time to adjust to teach in such a different style but the children’s reading enjoyment and ability is worth it.

I'm not a teacher but a parent so feel free to ignore me 🙈. How do you find the little wandle scheme for children who are already reading when going into reception?

My 4 year old is confidently and fluently without sounding out reading level 6 songbirds books and has started little wandle at school and seems bored with it.

The school say they all need to move at the same pace. Is that the case with the scheme across the board?

We only read the school book once a week and he reads other books at home but I'm a bit frustrated by the lack of progress with it and wondering if I should just gear myself up to a few years of it?

Depends on the school. We group across KS1 and assess and regroup every 6 weeks. Remember, phonics is for writing as well as reading, many seemingly competent readers don't have the phonic understanding to match when writing. So it might seem slow paced, but it is thorough.

Last summer , almost 95% achieved the screening level check.

I despise read write inc and hate Ruth Miskin with a passion...