Tyndale Park Phonics Programme

Here at Tyndale Park Christian School, we place a strong emphasis on teaching the foundational 'basics' well. We firmly believe that this provides the best platform for students to progress well in all areas of future learning. Our claim to teach children to read within their first full year of schooling, is only possible by utilising a phonics programme which teaches recognition of the written text with the sounds - rather than the names - of letters. The scientific support for our position was highlighted by a Massey University study into the reasons for widespread reading difficulties, evident in so many students today.

Over the years, Tyndale has adapted material from a number of various phonics programmes to produce a programme which has proven extremely successful in teaching students to read well. We place a greater emphasis on the assessment and teaching of constrained skills (i.e., phonological awareness, alphabetic coding skills, automaticity in word recognition) during the first year of formal schooling. In the early stages, it involves both parents and teacher in teaching and correcting the correct sounds utilising various digital and physical resources. We are confident in our claim that all children can be taught to read well this way and that is a huge advantage for them for the rest of their lives.