Staff dipped into a range of other phonics schemes and resources but as a whole school we did not have clear progression or a consistent approach.
We took part in a pilot research project and all members of staff received full online training from Monster Phonics. Monster Phonics also provided a free webinar for parents to find out more about the scheme and how to support reading at home.
The support you get from the Monster Phonics team is fantastic. They are always there to answer any questions, provide support or discuss next steps and resources
We receive regular staff training and emails offering professional learning opportunities all year round. We can always drop an email to the team, and they efficiently respond with the answers we need. We also have the support of Rhian from Monster Phonics who will come into school and support us implementing the scheme.
We also hosted an information day for other schools to attend and we shared our journey, progress and results.
Staff have worked extremely hard and showed great enthusiasm to implement and embed Monster Phonics into the class provision and areas of learning.
One teacher commented that it has been pleasing to see the interest children have in finding out sounds that they don’t already know. It has been wonderful to see how confident children are talking about the sounds different letters make. Another noticed when assessing her groups, that children are thinking about the sounds and bringing them into words. This is something she has not witnessed before at such a young age.
Learners have responded very positively towards the scheme. Through observations and listening to learners it is evident that the level of motivation and engagement of learners has increased. There has been a real buzz in the classrooms around the characters, songs and books and there is now a consistent and progressive approach to phonics and the teaching of reading at our school.
There has been a great impact on standards of reading at our school. We have tracked pupil progress data obtained using the formative and summative assessments from Monster Phonics and pupils have made pleasing progress in their reading and spelling ages.
Monster Phonics has been so successful in our school due to its easy and adaptable online platform. All resources are just a click away and that is a bonus. Planning and assessments are clearly set out and the progression is easy to follow. The characters draw the pupils in very quickly and bring their learning to life alongside the colour coded support.
The songs, books and videos are very engaging and bring the sessions alive each day.
We are continuing to aim for consistency across the school for the teaching of phonics.
Staff are fully on board and are attending refresher training. We are working in progression steps to ensure gaps in phonics knowledge are covered and we continue to teach the next steps.
Progress will continue to be monitored and we know that we are a few years away from seeing the true impact on reading and writing standards for the whole school.
We embrace new opportunities and have now invested in Superhero Spelling to support pupils in Y3-Y6.
The future is hopeful, and we look forward to our MP launch day in September – I just need to find a costume!
