What is Phonics? *Children in Reception to Year 2 have a 20 minute daily phonics lesson. *They are taught to read by breaking down words into separate sounds or ‘phonemes’. They are then taught how to blend these sounds together to hear and read the whole word. There are around 40 different sounds.

We teach phonics in six phases, which children should have completed by the end of year 2

• Oral blending and segmenting Phase 1 Children explore and experiment with sounds, differentiate between sounds and become familiar with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration (from birth to the end of Nursery) This phase continues throughout their Primary Education SEVEN ASPECTS – • Environmental sound • Instrumental sounds • Body percussion • Rhythm and rhyme • Alliteration • Voice sounds • Oral blending and segmenting

Phase 2 To introduce grapheme/phoneme (letter shape/sound) correspondence (beginning of Reception) Children know that words are constructed from Phonemes (sounds) and that those sounds are represented by graphemes (letters). They begin to put them together to read and spell CVC words.  

Jolly Phonics We use Jolly Phonics to introduce the sounds. Each sound has an action which helps children remember the letter(s) that represent it. As a child becomes more confident, the actions are no longer necessary.   Children should learn each letter by its sound before learning letter names. The letters are not introduced in alphabetical order. The first group (s, a, t, i, p, n) has been chosen because they make more simple three-letter words than any other six letters. The letters b and d are introduced in different groups to avoid confusion.

Phase 3 Children learn one grapheme (letter or group of letters) for each of the 44 phonemes (sounds) in order to read and spell simple regular words. (Reception) Children link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet. They hear and say sounds in the order they occur in the word and read simple words by blending the phonemes from left to right. They recognise common digraphs (e.g. th) and read some high frequency words

Phase 4 To teach children to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants (end of Reception) Children will be able to blend and segment adjacent consonants in words and apply this skill when reading and spelling. Children will move from CVC words (pot, sheep) to CVCC words (pots) and CCVC words (spot) and then CCVCC words (spots)

Phase 5 Teaching children to recognise and use alternative ways of pronouncing the graphemes and spelling the phonemes already taught (Year One) Children will use alternative ways of pronouncing the graphemes (e.g. the ‘c’ in coat and city). Recognise an increasing number of high frequency words automatically. Knowledge and skills of phonics will be the prime approach to reading and spelling

Phase 6 Teaching children to develop their skill and automaticity in reading and spelling, creating ever increasing capacity to attend to reading for meaning. (Year Two) Applying phonic knowledge to recognise and spell an increasing number of complex words. Read an increasing number of high and medium frequency words independently and automatically

Year 1 Phonics Test *Every Year 1 child in the country will be taking the statutory phonics screening check in June. *The check is very similar to tasks the children already complete during phonics lessons and it will be done with the class teacher. *The focus of the check is to ensure that all children can read by the end of year 2. The year 1 screening (mid point) will provide evidence to help teachers plan for year 2. It is not a reading test!

What will the children do? *The check will take 4 to 9 minutes to complete; *They will be asked to ‘sound out’ a word and blend the sounds together. e.g. d-o-g – dog *The check will consist of 40 words and non-words; *Children will be told if the word is a real or ‘alien’ word, with a corresponding alien image.

Examples of words

How will it be administered? *Teachers will conduct all of the screening checks with the children. The children are familiar with this routine. *The children will complete the check one to one in a quiet area of the school. *We are not permitted to indicate to the children at the time whether they have correctly sounded out and / or blended the word.

And the results...? *The children will be scored against a national standard (determined by DfE) *We will inform you of the results during the summer term. *If your child’s score falls below the national standard they will be supported and will complete the screening in year 2.

How can you help? Encourage your child to use their knowledge of sounds to work out the words when reading and writing. Digraph- 2 letters making one sound cow the children should say this as c-ow and not c-o-w Trigraphs- 3 letters making one sound night the children should say this as n-igh-t and not n-i-g-h-t which does not sound like night. Split digraphs- 2 vowels with a consonant in between. Use to be known as the magic e! spine - i_e home – o_e cube – u_e

How can you help? Children can practise their phonics by playing games online. They can choose phase 3, 4, or 5 * Buried Treasure * Poop deck Pirates * Dragons’ den http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/phase-4-games.html

How can you help? REMEMBER: Phonics is not the only way you become a good reader. Continue to read with your child each night and encourage them to: *Sound out the words and blend the sounds together. *re-read to check it makes sense, and use pictures for clues. * Ask questions about the book. * And most importantly ENJOY READING!