WHAT IS “PHONICS”?

At The Edron Academy, phonics is taught from Nursery until the end of Year Two. Phonics is a means to an end. Put simply, it is a way of decoding written letters in order to read words. In the past, people argued that because the English language is so tricky, there was no point teaching children phonics. Now most experts agree that systematic phonics teaching is extremely important. A written language is basically a kind of a code. Teaching phonics is teaching children to crack that code. There are of course other important aspects of reading once children are able to decode words and read more fluently, such as comprehension.

It is important to note that in order for children to succeed in phonics, it is imperative that they develop their speaking and listening skills in English. This is the first step in their phonics journey, starting in Pre-Nursery and Nursery. Our teachers should provide a language rich environment which encourages children to speak in English and increase their vocabulary. Learning activities such as rhymes, stories and songs all help to deepen speaking and listening skills. Children listen to different sounds, learn to talk about them and explore aspects of language such as rhyme and alliteration.

By Reception, most children are ready for synthetic phonics, where words are broken up into the smallest units of sound (phonemes). The first sounds to be taught are s, a, t, p. Children are taught the letters (graphemes) that represent these phonemes and they also learn how to blend them into words and eventually how to segment in order to spell. Later on in Reception and also in Year One and Year Two, children learn to read and spell digraphs such as sh and ch and trigraphs such as igh.

Blending

This is when children say the sounds that make up a word and are able to merge the sounds together until they can hear what the word is and then read it.

Segmenting

Children are also taught to segment. This is the opposite of blending. Children are able to say a word and then break it up into the phonemes that make it up. This skill is vital for learning to spell.

Phonics is the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read. Children should also have the chance to take part in Guided Reading sessions (usually beginning in the summer term of Reception) and access to a range of books in the classroom for independent reading. In addition to this, children should regularly listen to songs, rhymes and stories read by an adult in order for them to be inspired to read. They need to see that reading is fun and exciting!

At The Edron Academy, we use the structure of Letters and Sounds, which involves six phases, ranging from Phase 1 (Speaking & Listening skills) in Nursery to Phase 6 (with more of a focus on spelling and grammar) in Year Two, although the phases are taught flexibly in order to take into account the individual progress of each child. Within each phonics lesson, starting from Phase 2, the Read, Write, Inc. flashcards are often used to introduce a new sound and to help children with letter formation. The aim is that our children will be able to read and spell as successfully as any child in Britain.

Katie Sutcliffe

Phonics & Literacy coordinator in Kinder.