What is phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children to read. They are taught how to:
- Recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes
- Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make e.g. sh and oo
- Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.
Children can then use this knowledge to segment and blend new words that they hear or see.
Why phonics?
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read.
All children are individuals and develop at different rates. A phonics screening check at the end of Year One ensures that teachers understand which children need extra help with phonic decoding.
Phonics games to play with your child
In phonic lessons, we teach the "pure sound" of a phoneme, rather than letter names. For example, the sound /s/ is pronounced 'ssssss' and not 'suh' or 'es'.
Learning to read pure sounds makes it much easier for children to blend sounds together as they progress with their reading.
