Rocket Phonics First Steps Case Study: Woodland Grange Preschool

About the preschool

Woodland Grange Preschool shares a site with Woodland Grange Primary school, offering flexible childcare options for children once they have turned 3. There are around 55 children on roll, most of whom start in September, although some do just mornings, others afternoons, while some are there from before 8am until 6pm at night.

Lisa, Phonics Coordinator and KS1 literacy lead, and Amy, Woodland Grange’s preschool lead, spoke to us about using Rocket Phonics First Steps to support their preschool literacy curriculum. Amy leads a team of eight, working closely with Lisa on developing and delivering their Early Years curriculum.

Their catchment includes a high number of EAL families. Parents have high aspirations for their children, and want to be involved in their learning. “…most of the parents are very on board and want to support their children,” says Amy, going on to describe the high levels of attendance at their regular curriculum evenings for parents.

Why did they decide to adopt First Steps?

The preschool has traditionally had a very strong maths curriculum, but, due to their high EAL numbers, wanted to strengthen their literacy curriculum. When evaluating their choice of programme, it was important that it was aligned with their child-centred and play-based continuous provision, was accessible and supportive for EAL parents, and could be adapted to their preschool timetable.

Lisa was immediately drawn to the interactive Big Books which provide a focal point for the sessions. “I'm old school. When we're doing Big Books, I like to be able to talk to the children using books with no words… What can we see is happening? Where are the characters going? Where is it taking place?”

Teachers can also click to play the built-in audio narrative. For EAL children with limited vocabulary, the Big Books are ideal for scaffolding children’s spoken language, prompting discussions and building confidence in speaking and listening. New sounds are introduced through the Big Book, through the interactive flashcards and audio-click lozenges. And children love the interactivity of the Big Books. “They're desperate to come to the front and click the buttons… It's been really engaging for them.”

The 12 lilac-banded books have also been a success, bridging the transition from preschool to Reception. The books not only match the phoneme-grapheme progression of the programme, they also don’t use grammar or punctuation, reducing the ‘cognitive load’ of decoding the words on the page. “… when we're teaching children the phonemes, we don't always teach in the capital letter at the same time. So then when they come to read the start of a sentence, they would have no idea what that first letter is because it doesn't look like what they [are used to].” [Amy]

The sequence in which the sounds are introduced in Rocket Phonics First Steps matches the developmental progression of speech acquisition, another feature praised by Amy.

I particularly like the fact from a linguistic point of view, the order in which the sounds are delivered is line with how a child's speech sounds develop.

This reinforced her confidence that the programme is based on research carried out by child development experts. “I just thought they've really thought about this really carefully.”

How do they use it?

Because the timetable is built around the range of childcare options offered to parents, it isn’t possible to have a daily phonics session. Instead, they aim for three to four sessions a week, while still maintaining the pace of one new sound per week. The sound is then reinforced through continuous provision in and out of the classroom. “We’re very play-based, and we try to link everything to the sound of the week. So when we did /p/, our snacks for the week started with ‘p’, so we had pineapple, passion fruit and pizza, and we had a go at making popcorn while the children said the sound. …The children literally would not stop shouting it out. It has just caught their attention and they have been really focused with it.” [Lisa]

The children’s enthusiasm and the way they’ve engaged with the various aspects of the scheme has won over the staff, who’ve taken it on ‘really easily’. This was reinforced by the obvious and immediate impact it had on children’s progress over the first few weeks of adoption. “…the staff were so reassured with the responses and the engagement from the children …that they were … invested in onboarding. …. So it was like it sold itself as you could see the results before your eyes, week by week…” [Lisa]

The ease with which staff have got to grips with the programme is also down to the daily and weekly lesson plans, which follow a consistent approach. “…the planning is so simple …it makes staff feel quite confident in being able to lead it…” [Amy]

Parental engagement

Adopting First Steps has benefitted parental engagement, too. Using Tapestry, their online learning platform, staff at the preschool upload a weekly video of the sound of the week, showing a practitioner demonstrating the action that goes with the flashcard, and sharing the ditty and nursery rhyme. Parents can then in turn upload videos of children practicing the sound at home. “…we've had so many videos on Tapestry of the children and parents practicing them at home and they're singing all the ditties and doing the actions so it's been really positive with the parents as well.” As well as sending the ‘physical’ reading books home in the children’s ‘blending bags’ along with games and activities to practice the sound, the ebooks have been particularly valuable for EAL children or those with speech and language delays. Amy described how the audio for the ‘hip hop’ book provided meaning and context to parents who were confused by the cultural references. “Because of our high number of EAL children, that's a huge benefit to give some context to the images.”   

Final reflections

Adopting First Steps has added rigour and progression to the preschool’s literacy curriculum, and both Lisa and Amy agree that children are better prepared for starting the curriculum in Reception. “…it gives the foundation stage teachers an advantage because you've got children that have already got some of those skills that they would be teaching at the very start of the year.” It’s also allowed them to identify those who need a little more support.   

Importantly, First Steps has boosted parental engagement too, giving EAL families the tools and confidence to practice phonemic awareness at home using the videos and resources shared via Tapestry.  

The ultimate endorsement of any programme is advocating it to peers and colleagues in other schools. Lisa and Amy have been so delighted with the impact it’s had on their pupils that they have invited the phonics leads from other schools in the Trust to observe it being used. This, along with Lisa ‘banging on about how amazing it is’, has prompted others to sign up, too. In the end, it’s as simple as this: “It just works,” says Lisa.