1. Information for parents
Phonics
Information for parents

2. t c ch igh What is phonics?
Phonics is an approach to reading and some aspects of writing for 4-7 year olds.
It involves hearing, identifying and using sounds (phonemes) and learning the relationships between these sounds and the letters (graphemes) which represent them. t c ch
igh

3. cat c / a / t sheep sh / ee / p
What is phonics?
To read (decode) a new word, we sound it out and combine (blend) the sound- spelling patterns.
cat c / a / t
sheep sh / ee / p

4. Foundation Stage
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Year 1
Year 2
Phase 5
Phase 6

5. Phase 1 Taught across both FS1 and FS2
Contributes mainly to Communication, Language and Literacy section of EYFS Development Profile
Although activities are adult-led, early years setting should provide plenty of opportunities for children to make progress independently through high quality play.
Children may do some sounding and blending during this phase though it does not have to be linked with letters (grapheme-phoneme correspondence).
Children do not need to master this phase before moving on.

7. Jolly Phonics
A multi-sensory method of teaching phonics. Each letter/sound (phoneme) has a picture, song and action to go with it. There are also stories for each letter/sound.

8. Phase 2
Move children on from oral blending and segmentation to blending and segmenting with letters (grapheme-phoneme correspondence).
Children learn to read the following high-frequency ‘tricky’ words: the, to, no, go
To move on children must:
Know the 19 letters taught by the teacher.
Be able to blend phonemes to read VC words.
Be able to segment VC words to spell.
Children do not need to:
Be able to write letters themselves.
Be able to spell CVC words.
Be able to read ‘tricky’ words taught.

9. Phase 2 – 6 weeks
s a t p
i n m d
g o c k
ck e u r
h b f/ff l/ll ss

10. Phase 3 Teach another 25 graphemes, mostly compromising two letters.
Children apply their knowledge by reading and spelling simple two-syllable words and captions.
To move on children must:
Be able to represent each of 42 phonemes by a grapheme
Be able to segment CVC words for spelling
Know letter names
Be able to read and spell some tricky words taught

11. j v w x y z/zz qu sh ch th ng ai oa ee or oo oi er ar ie ur ou
Phase 3
j v w x
y z/zz qu
sh ch th ng
ai oa ee or
oo oi er ar
ie ur ou
ear air ure

12. tent (CVCC) stop (CCVC) stand (CCVCC)
Phase 4
Read and spell words…
with adjacent consonants
polysyllabic words
To move on children must:
Demonstrate that they can read and spell words with adjacent consonants and some polysyllabic words.
tent (CVCC) stop (CCVC) stand (CCVCC)
sandpit driftwood

13. Phase 5 To be secure at Phase 5 children must:
Know most of the common grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
Be able to read hundreds of words by decoding or reading automatically.
Be able to spell phonemically most of the time.

14. New Graphemes zh nk tch ore are ay ow igh ea ir oy ur ue aw ey
Phase 5
zh nk tch ore are
ay ow igh ea ir
oy ur ue aw ey
wh ph ew oe au
a-e e-e i-e o-e u-e
New
Graphemes

15. Alternative
Pronunciation
Phase 5
i o c g
u ow ie ea
er a y ch ou

16. Information for parents
EARLY READING
Information for parents

17. Early Reading
Phonics is only one part of a successful literacy strategy.
Phonics DOES NOT teach comprehension.

18. Comprehension
To fully understand what they have read, children need to
Make connections between what they read and what they already know.
Think deeply about what they have read.
A good vocabulary is a key part of understanding texts!
Ask questions – ‘How do you think he felt? Why?’
Relate texts to other books, films, etc. or child’s personal experience.
Read a book twice.

19. At school In KS1 we teach phonics daily.
Each child has 1 guided reading session per week.
Each child has 1:1 reading time with an adult at least once per week.
English lessons are taught for an hour daily (shorter time for foundation stage).
We enjoy a story together at the end of the day.

20. At home
Your child should be bringing home a reading book from school that is the appropriate level for them. It should have a coloured sticker representing the level of the book.
Please fill in your child’s reading record each time they read.
We recommend 10 minutes reading per day.
Talk about the book and ask questions – have they understood the book?
Have books available in your home and share books together.
Come and visit the library on a Thursday after school.

22. What to do if your child is stuck
Use phonics first. What sound does the word begin with? Can you say the sounds in the word? Blend them together.
Read to the end of the sentence. What would make sense?
What is the text about – what might fit here?
Does it sound right?
Look at the picture. Does it help?

23. “If we don’t learn to love books, we don’t read
“If we don’t learn to love books, we don’t read. And if we don’t read widely, we don’t think deeply.” Michael Rosen