Rocket Phonics

At Ickford we use the DFE validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme ‘Rocket Phonics’. Rocket Phonics is aligned to the progression of Letters and Sounds Phases 1-6, which ensures every learner is equipped for success in Phonics.  From the start of Early Years through to Year 2, the children are taught Phonics for 30 minutes each day. Children in KS2 who need extra support or consolidation in their learning of Phonics participate in these daily Phonics sessions. 

Children are taught the 44 phoneme-grapheme correspondences and how to form each of the 26 capital and lowercase letters. For each phoneme, the children are taught an action to assist with their recall of the sound. On our Early Years Foundation Stage page, you can find a video of all the sounds and actions. 

All children are provided with frequent opportunities to segment, blend, spell and read words as well as learning common exception words. Common exception words are words that appear frequently in texts and may not follow the normal spelling rules. To support children in learning the common exception words, we provide each child in the EYFS with a keyring with words to practise at home. Once your child has learnt these words on sight (without sounding out), they are given the next words in the sequence to add to their keyring. Learning the common exception words on sight will support your child when reading sentences as they will be able to read these words instantly and only need to decode the unfamiliar words.

Children are assessed half termly in their Phonics understanding, ensuring those who need extra support receive it. All staff are trained in Phonics and each year we hold a Phonics and Reading Workshop for parents to learn the sounds and corresponding actions. This workshop has proved very successful and valuable for parents, so attendance is highly recommended.