Fun with Phonics at
Lorna Whiston Schools

Give Young Ones a Headstart in Reading, Writing and Spelling

To read English well and have strong communication skills, it is crucial to master the sounds of English letters and understand how they work together. By learning to connect sounds to groups of letters through phonics, students can build a solid foundation that benefits them in the following ways:

  • Understand how groups of letters relate to each other

  • Learn how to read any word by breaking down words into sounds

  • Build letter and word recognition

  • Learn the correct pronunciations of words

By providing children with these building blocks for success, phonics can help children develop their linguistic mastery confidently and more effectively.

At Lorna Whiston, our Fun with Phonics class is a unique English enrichment programme designed to give young learners a head start in reading, writing and spelling. To capture the attention of our young students, passionate native-speaking teachers teach Fun with Phonics through a range of fun, multisensory activities. Puppets, puzzles, stories, songs, rhymes, art and craft activities, and phonic games all feature regularly, ensuring that our students learn phonics effectively and efficiently.

We focus on the following in our Fun with Phonics programmes:

  • Creating an engaging environment for your child to develop confidence in reading and spelling

  • Learning phonics systematically in order to decode and spell with confidence

  • Engaging all learners in a multi-sensory approach

Three Distinct Levels of Mastery According to Abilities - Ready! Steady! Go!

There are three distinct levels in the Fun with Phonics programme - Ready!, Steady!, and Go! Before enrolment, students are assessed by Lorna Whiston Schools and placed at the appropriate level.

Each level focuses on building up students' current capabilities, ensuring that students grasp concepts fully. Once teachers have assessed the student to meet the learning outcomes of the level, they can progress to the next level.

Ready!

Students get ready to start reading by knowing the letter names and their associated sounds at this level. We aim to introduce the initial letter names, sounds, and shapes. They will also master the concept of vowels. Upon grasping these concepts, students will then learn simple blending.

At the end of this level, students will be able to:

- Identify letters and match them to their sounds

- Hear sounds at the beginning of words

- Begin blending two sounds together

Steady!

At this level, the students steadily build up confidence in blending. Other than reviewing the concepts learnt in Ready!, students will start to work on blending consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. They will then work on consonant digraphs (two letters that make one sound) like ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘th’, and consonant blends and begin to look at CCVC words. At this level, they will practise recognising high-frequency words, otherwise known as sight words.

At the end of this level, students will be able to:

- Blend sounds together to read CVC words

- Identify and use word families

- Apply their knowledge of phonics to reading

- Begin to read words with consonant blends and consonant digraphs

Go!

At this level, the students can now read a good number of high-frequency words and are confident in blending words. In this programme, the children will review CVC words, blend CCVC and continue to grasp more complex sounds like vowel digraphs, silent ‘e’, long ‘a’ words, and word families such as ‘ight’. They will also continue to work on using their phonics to help them with spelling when writing.

At the end of this level, students will be able to:

- Read words with vowel digraphs and diphthongs (a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable)

- Attempt to break down longer words to read them

- Attempt to spell unknown words

- Apply their knowledge of phonics to assist with writing

Passionate Teachers

Lorna Whiston Schools hires the most passionate and dedicated teachers we can find. They are committed to each student in the classroom, providing individual attention and progressive feedback; out of the classroom, they search for and prepare the most engaging and interactive lessons available.

Our teachers come from countries where English is their primary language, many of whom have been with us for years. Every teacher undergoes an additional 60 hours of professional development per year to ensure that their knowledge and skills are updated.

Trusted by Parents, Enjoyed by Students

Driven by our mission to transform lives through exceptional learning experiences for students, Lorna Whiston Schools is shaped by our five core values of collaboration, integrity, education, determination and innovation. These five core values shape every interaction and learning experience delivered in our enrichment classes and enable parents to entrust their precious young children to us.

“My daughter, Zaara could not read well when she was in N2. After attending all 3 levels of the Fun with Phonics classes, she has improved tremendously! I truly appreciate Ms. Rose’s patience and efforts in guiding and teaching Zaara!”

Jasmin Kaur, parent of Zaara

Find out more about our Signature Programmes

Keen to find out more?

At the heart of our programmes is our desire to build a solid academic foundation that equips students with strategies to help them learn better and install soft skills and values essential for success. To prepare our students for academic success, we believe in providing authentic and meaningful learning experiences. More than 70,000 children have experienced the difference of the Lorna Whiston experience. We invite your child to join us on a transformative learning journey too!