At Loyola, we follow the DFE approved Anima Phonics scheme from Kindergarten to PP2.  The aim is ‘Getting all children to read well, quickly’. It teaches children to read in a fun and kinaesthetic way by identifying the phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (the written version of the sound) within words and using these to read words.

Children begin learning Phonics at the start of Kindergarten through learning the initial sounds, actions and song that accompany each letter.

It is explicitly taught every day during a dedicated slot on the timetable. Children are given the knowledge and the skills to then apply this independently.

From Reception, children will use their growing Phonics knowledge to support them in other areas of the curriculum and will have many opportunities to practise their reading. This includes reading 1:1 with a member of staff. Children experience the joy of books and language whilst rapidly acquiring the skills they need to become fluent independent readers and writers. Animaphonics teaches relevant, useful and ambitious vocabulary to support each child’s journey to becoming fluent and independent readers.

We begin by teaching the single letter sounds before moving to diagraphs ‘sh’ (two letters spelling one sound), trigraphs ‘igh’ (three letters spelling one sound) and quadgraphs ‘eigh’ (four letters spelling one sound).

We teach children to:

• Decode (read) by identifying each sound within a word and blending them together to read fluently
• Encode (write) by segmenting each sound to write words accurately.
• The structure of our phonics lessons allows children to know what is coming next, what they need to do, and how to achieve success. This makes it easier for children to learn the GPCs we are teaching and how to apply this when reading.

Supporting reading at home:

• We only use pure sounds when decoding words (no ‘uh’ after the sound).
• We want children to continue to practise these skills:
• Decode – sounding out and blending to read the word.
• Fluency – reading words with less obvious decoding.
• Expression – using intonation and expression to bring the text to life!

We must use pure sounds when we are pronouncing the sounds and supporting children in reading words. If we mispronounce these sounds, we will make reading harder for our children. For more information on how to accurately pronounce these sounds, please watch the videos below:

Anima Phonics Parent Reference Guide

Phonics: How to pronounce pure sounds | Oxford Owl

Phonics - Oxford Owl for Home