Why does my child's school need to use a programme for phonics and early reading?

For many years there has been a lot of research conducted into the best ways to help children to read well as soon as possible. Schools have been using a range of programmes that teach phonics for several years. In winter 2020, the Department for Education decided it was important to have a new list of programmes they had checked that met a list of stringent criteria to be ‘validated’ systematic, synthetic phonics programmes, or SSP for short. Like other programmes, FFT Success for All Phonics was validated by the DfE and, after looking at all programmes available, our school have selected this as our chosen programme as we feel it's best for your child/ren.

What is included with Success for All Phonics?

Success for All Phonics is a complete literacy programme that supports your child to learn all the skills needed to successfully read, write and spell. It is part of a wide range of literacy programmes that come from FFT. FFT is a charity who have created an engaging, proven programme that children enjoy and do well with. There are lots of beautifully created and engaging resources such as flashcards, sound mats, and other resources to support children's learning. There is also a specially written set of decodable reading books that include a variety of genres, which will be used in class and sent home in either hard copies or digital books.

How can I help my child?

FFT Success for All Phonics have written lots of advice on how to support your child which you can read on our Parents Portal: https://parents.fft.org.uk/tips-for-home-reading/

A complete set of Readers which can be found here is also available along with recordings of the Readers being read out loud. Helping your child is, in fact, straightforward. Research shows that it is really important to introduce children to several new words each day, just by talking and using them together. Children also have a better chance of being a successful reader if they practice reading their decodable books and also share other exciting books for pleasure, hearing others read