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.

At the school I used to work at, they'd just adopted the song of sounds phonic scheme. I don't know what it's like price wise but there were all sorts of activities and lessons included in a big ass box of resources

We use little wandell and it's been really successful in terms of results. It was painful to implement and it's time consuming but now everyone is used to it were really pleased. We really didn't like read write Inc but others love it.

@Mammyloveswine I guess different things work in different schools. For us it’s transformed our results. We now have a huge amount of children in Year 2 who are free readers which didn’t happen before unfortunately. The writing part was pants though 😂

I've been watching the portal videos again tonight to refresh and I just get the rage 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Found bug club very good for both mine. Only issue was the teschers restricting you to reading the books 3 times!!

@Mammyloveswine We took a fair part of the cult stuff out.
There’s no “same, same, same” in our sessions 😂

My children's school switched to using Twinkl last year. I've been really impressed and with it for my younger children and wish it had been in place for my eldest too. I'm a former teacher and still work in education and have heard good responses from other schools too.

Another vote for Read Write Inc. it’s expensive but the results are great. Four of my own children have been or are working through the scheme and I work in a primary that uses it and I can see how effective it is even with reluctant readers.

Little Wandle is very effective and well worth the time investment to set it up properly. If you're unsure though, contact Little Wandle or one of their champion schools. You'll be able to go along to a showcase and observe how Little Wandle is delivered and what it looks like 'in action'.

Digging up this old threat but hoping you'll see it :) Could you elaborate what issues you see with Read Write Inc. program and the creator of it, please? My little one starts reception this September and the school uses this program, I'm a bit concerned about it now :) Thank you!

I can’t bear RWI!

Personally, I’ve found both Little Wandle and Floppy phonics good as a teacher.

Current school uses Monster Phonics, but I’m not a big fan. Too much over-complication and faff IMO.

Monster Phonics is truly dreadful. Lots of errors in the materials, awful badly written songs that don't scan, tedious and unlikely rhymes .

Worst - INBUILT MISOGYNY and very out of date and politically incorrect viewpoints in all of it.
Eg - 'Miss Oh No' is a character who is pink, wears pink high heels and says 'oh no' a lot.
Cool Blue is... You've guessed it.

Can't begin to mention some other 'themes'. Kissing, football, etc etc etc.

Should be banned.

I can’t speak for the person who posted before but our school uses RWI and it creates great results. The issue we have with it is it’s pretty much a script as the groups are all so small to promote progress. That means all staff have to teach it in the exact same way and it takes any individuality out of it. It becomes almost cultish with the phrases but it’s worked wonders for our children.
And it’s so expensive!!!

Thank you for your input. Is it expensive for the school or for the parents?
All schools in my area (all OFSTED outstanding and good) with great literacy results use this programme, I hope I'm worrying for no reason as a parent.

The school, although if you happen to misplace a book sent home we charge parents for a replacement book as we don’t have enough spares.
The school is charged for the books, access to an online training portal, in person training and regular visits from a RWI consultant to check everything is going well. I’m sure schools can do it cheaper but they obviously upsell as they’re a business.
It really is a great program for the majority of students. Only three children in my class failed their phonics screening this year - 2 because of severe SEN and one because of attendance issues. Even those children made good progress from their starting point though.

Thank you for the information!

We use Read Write Inc and scored 96% in the Yr1 phonics check.