phrantic phonics 

Although KS2 SATs results were generally good, analysis of test results from YR to Y4 showed that spelling and reading ages of the majority of children were well below chronological age.  At KS1, simple decoding was a problem - in the absence of pictorial or contextual cues, pupils were at a loss when confronted with a word that was not in their sight vocabulary.  They had not mastered the sounds of English.

We had tried giving them more PiPs, and then ELS, ALS and FLS (delivered by teaching assistants) for children who failed to make adequate progress, but there was no detectable improvement.   We were looking for an alternative that would involve minimum preparation, that could be delivered by class teachers to mixed age groups in whole class sessions, and which would keep all children motivated and involved. 

It was not that our children were not language receptive.  Far from it.  By the time they reached year 1, they were able to count, respond to the register,  and exchange information about themselves in three languages other than English.  Key to our success in MFL was the fact that in the early stages the teaching was entirely oral.  It provided regular repetition, and the teaching was done in short bursts, through rhythm, song and movement.   All children succeeded, and children with special educational needs responded particularly well.

phrantic phonics, introduced to our school in the spring of 2005, was an attempt to harness these methods: using pace, rhythm, and repetition to attune children's ears to the constituent sounds (or phonemes) in their language, and to prioritise the oral over the written. It is a synthetic phonics programme:  letter sounds are taught very quickly, and children learn from the outset to blend and segment words.  It is unnecessary to teach consonant blends as a separate entity. Only the principal vowel and consonant digraphs need to be taught.

Results were more than we had dared hope for. After a term in school, no Reception child had begun to read and by May we had no non-readers. The average gain in Y1 reading age (our chief area of concern) was 12 months.  In Y2, the average increase was 10 months.  

Since then, phrantic phonics has become a daily part of school life for our Early Years children.  In this year's intake, all Reception children were secure in their grasp of phonemes by the end of their first month in school.  Some are so confident that they have even lead the oral starter to the lesson.