All pupils at Hayfield are taught Systematic Synthetic Phonics through a carefully adapted version of the Read, Write Inc. programme, tailored to meet the individual learning needs of each child. Phonics teaching focuses on supporting children to recognise letters (graphemes) and their corresponding sounds (phonemes), also known as alphabetic phonics. This approach involves breaking words down into their smallest units of sound; for example, the word “stand” is made up of five sounds: s/t/a/n/d.

At Hayfield, pupils continue to receive personalised phonics teaching for as long as required, until they can confidently segment and blend words using all Set 1–3 complex speed sounds (explained further on the parent support phonics page). To ensure clear progression and to meet differing learning needs across the school, we use four adapted versions of the Read, Write Inc. programme.

The following shows how Phonics is organised within our school pathways: