Quality phonics teaching and learning is a key priority at Otley all Saints CE Primary School and one we recognise as paramount to children progressing to be confident and fluent readers and learners. 

Word recognition and understanding is essential to enable children to become skilled and fluent readers. In Reception and Key Stage 1, we place great emphasis on teaching phonics and developing children’s phonological awareness. These early years are crucial to establish the foundations for reading fluently and accurately, developing comprehension skills and fostering a love of reading and literature.

To deliver high-quality phonics teaching and learning, we use the newly developed and validated story-based SSP (systematic synthetic phonics) programme Rocket Phonics which not only focuses on the key fundamentals and alphabetic code, but also fosters a love of reading and story. Digital ‘Big Books’ are central to the programme and they consist of language-rich stories to teach all of the target letter sounds in context. They also introduce new vocabulary for discussion. 

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The Rocket Phonics Programme is fully complemented by an affiliated Reading Scheme.  The ‘Target Practice Reading Books’ are matched to the teaching and learning sequence of the Rocket Phonics programme and give the children the opportunity to apply their phonic knowledge using phonetically decodable books.