What is Phonics?

Phonics is one method of teaching children how to read and write.

Phonics is all about sounds. There are 44 sounds in the English language, which we put together to form words.

Some are represented by one letter, like ‘t’, and some by two or more, like ‘ck’ in duck and ‘air’ in chair.

Children are taught the sounds first, then how to match them to letters, and finally how to use the letter sounds for reading and spelling.

Synthetic phonics refers to ‘synthesising’, or blending, the sounds to read words. It is based on the idea that children should sound out unknown words and not rely on their context.

Phonics at Standhill Infants School

Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) is our chosen phonics programme. It teaches children to read by identifying the phonemes (smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (written version of the sound) within words and using these to read words. Children experience the joy of books and language whilst rapidly acquiring the skills they need to become fluent independent readers and writers.

How do we teach phonics? 

• We use a simple, consistent approach to teaching phonics.
• Your child will experience the same classroom routines within each lesson which reduces cognitive load and maximises the chances of success.
• All children are supported within the lesson to use their new phonic knowledge independently.
• In every single ELS lesson, your child will make the direct application to reading.
• Daily Phonics sessions- these start from the beginning of Reception
• Phonics throughout the day to review new sounds & graphemes taught
• Lots of opportunities for oral blending - c/oa/t
• Main focus is on word recognition. However, new vocabulary is also given and explained in every lesson. 
• Opportunities for writing - new grapheme, words and sentences