Phonics

At Ridgeway CE School we use Twinkl Phonics.

Twinkl Phonics is a fully comprehensive, synthetic phonics teaching programme. Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching reading and writing in which words are broken up into ‘phonemes’ (their smallest units of sound). Children learn to associate a written letter or group of letters, known as ‘graphemes’, with each phoneme. Sounds are then built up or ‘blended’ together into words for reading or, conversely, whole words are broken down or ‘segmented’ into their constituent sounds for writing. 

The benefits of this approach are: 

• children learn in an order which is well thought-out and allows them to progress through stages as they are ready; 

• children can attempt new words working from sound alone; 

• reading and writing become practices that are developed hand-in-hand.

The scheme is delivered through the stories and adventures of Kit, Sam and the Twinkl Phonics family. As children progress through the ​scheme, they build and develop the skills and understanding they need to become effective, independent readers and writers. 

Alongside the Twinkl Phonics scheme we use the aligned Rhino Readers Twinkl Reading Scheme. Rhino Readers is a fully decodable reading scheme which enables children to apply their phonics learning to reading, using only the sounds and words that they have been taught.

Phonics Glossary for parents.