We currently follow the PPSEN scheme for phonics. School acknowledge that this is not a DFE validated SSP Programme and are in the process of moving to Read, Write, Inc. This is highlighted in our School Development plan and should be the phonics scheme the school follows from September 2024
Implementation of Phonics
As a school we follow a synthetic phonics scheme called: Phonics for Pupils with SEN (or
PPSEN). Phonics for SEN enables pupils with a range of special educational needs to find reading and spelling success and is suitable for those with specific learning difficulties, autism, moderate and severe learning difficulties, developmental language disorder, communication needs and complex needs, including pre- and nonverbal pupils
and those with significant physical disability. Pupils can work through the programme at their own pace with each step of progress taking them closer to reading and spelling
competence.
Impact of the PPSEN programme:
– Pupils learn about and understand the concepts that underpin how the written English word is constructed,
– Pupils learn, practice and master the skills they need to work with sounds and
letters, and develop the knowledge they need to learn, build up and retain to be able to read and spell well.
Phonics for Pupils with Special Educational Needs (PPSEN) Rationale
This scheme is a complete Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme providing fidelity to its teaching framework for the duration of the programme. It presents systematic,
synthetic phonic work as the prime approach to decoding print. There is a structured
route through the programme, with opportunities for regular teaching sessions. The
scheme begins by introducing a defined group of grapheme-phoneme correspondences
that enable our children to read and spell many words early on. It then progresses from
simple to more complex phonic knowledge and skills, cumulatively covering all the major
grapheme-phoneme correspondences in English. It teaches children to read printed
words by identifying and blending (synthesising) individual phonemes, from left to right
all through the word. It also teaches children to apply the skill of segmenting spoken
words into their constituent phonemes for spelling and that this is the reverse of
blending phonemes to read words. It provides opportunities for children to practise and
apply known phoneme-grapheme correspondences for spelling through dictation of
sounds, words and sentences. It also ensures that children are taught to decode and
spell common exception words (sometimes called ‘tricky’ words), appropriate to their
level of progress in the programme. PPSEN provides resources that support the
teaching of lower-case and capital letters correctly, with clear start and finish points.
The scheme is designed to be built around direct teaching sessions, with extensive
teacher-child interaction and it involves a multi-sensory approach. The scheme also
provides resources to enable teaching staff to deliver the programme effectively
including sufficient decodable reading material. It enables children’s progress to be
assessed and highlights the ways in which the programme meets the needs of those who
are at risk of falling behind. It also provides programme-specific training.
