"I used to find this really hard but now I LOVE it! I have a special cushion I sit on in my room to read my books before bedtime!"    

Parents quote: " I really believe that the provision in place at Manor Infant is having a really positive impact on my children."

"He finds it so much easier to learn the sounds now he uses the monster phonics colour system"

At Manor Infant and Nursery School, we use the DFE listed Monster Phonics scheme to teach children to read in Early Years and Key Stage 1.

Each grapheme (letter or letters) is matched to a monster to help the children to remember the sound and the visual cue of a monster is used to enable them to make links between the spellings in the English language for the same spoken sound. 

In Nursery, the children are taught how to listen for sounds in words, look for other words that have the same sound and start to learn about rhymes (Phase 1).

As children move into Reception, they continue to build on their listening skills and are introduced to Phase 2 in the scheme which marks the start of systematic phonics work. They have discrete, daily phonics sessions where they revise previous learning, are taught new graphemes/phonemes (sounds), practise together and apply what they have learnt. Through their phonics sesions, they are taught the 44 phonemes that make up all the sounds that are required for reading and spelling. These phonemes include those made by just one grapheme (letter), for example, ‘s’ as in ’sat’ and but also those that are made by two or more graphemes: sh as in ‘ship’ and ‘igh’ as in ‘night’.

Children work through the different phases and, as they grow in confidence and experience, they are introduced to alternative ways of representing the same sound, for example, ‘ai’ as in ‘rain’, ‘ay’ as in ‘day’ and ‘a-e’ as in ‘make’.

There are parent webinars available through the monster phonics scheme. If you would like more information, please contact Mrs Stewart (Reading and Phonics lead).                                                                                             

Tracking and assessment  

All pupils are assessed regularly throughout the Monster Phonics programme. During daily sessions of phonics, there are also opportunities for us to regularly assess children’s understanding. Outside of the discrete phonic sessions there are also opportunities to observe the application of phonics skills through reading and comprehension activities and other cross curricular opportunities.

Regular monitoring of assessment outcomes allows us to ensure that all children are making expected progress. This information is also used to identify children who are not making expected progress and early interventions can then be put in place.

Year 1 Screening Check

Every Year 1 child will complete a Phonics Screening Check in the summer term. This is a phonics-based check where children will read 40 simple, decodable words including some ‘nonsense’ words. This is a progress check to identify those children not at the expected level in their reading. The results are reported to parents as well as the local authority.

If you child does not pass the phonics screening in Year 1, they will retake the screening in the autumn term in Year 2.