Why the App Always Starts at SATPIN

The All Aboard app has an initial 60 lessons that are formatted to fit the lessons of Phases 2 and 3 of All Aboard Phonics. From lesson 61 the content includes all possible GPCs because the trainertext used in the activities will allow the learner to navigate the decoding of the words.

We know that this can be frustrating for a learner who starts the app in Year 1. They feel as if they have gone backwards if they have to do those early lessons in the app.

We have debated this at length. This is our reasoning for the current setup:

Our mission is success for every learner. We hope you are also aligned with that mission.

With that mission in mind, the strong learners are not our main focus. Our focus is on the learners who might have a reason to struggle. And it can be hard to be certain which learners really have a good foundation anyway.

For any at-risk learners, working steadily through the GPCs and pictophones introduced through Phases 2 and 3 will be potentially very important for their success. If we skip them ahead, we might be setting them up for failure, which is not in line with our mission.

It is true that a strong reader joining an All Aboard Phonics programme in Year 1 might be able to progress faster. But they are doing okay and if they really can’t abide doing the first 60 lessons in the app, that is okay too. They can still do the library each day.

Within that group of apparently stronger Year 1 readers, you may easily find there are actually some weaknesses. So our suggestion would be that they do do the early lessons anyhow, because it can be very difficult to know whether a learner is completely secure with the fundamentals.

I hope this makes sense.

For struggling readers in Year 2 and above, we are about to launch a quite different solution for them. It will launch straight into Phase 6 activities with the support of trainertext to help scaffold their development. The name of this new solution is Codebreaker.