Phonics

Synthetic phonics is a way of teaching children to read. It teaches children how sounds are represented by written letters. Children are taught to read words by blending these sounds together to make words. For example, they will be taught that the letters ‘m-a-t’ blend together to make ‘mat’.

In Key Stage 1, we follow Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS). The ELS programme is a fast-paced and interactive approach to teaching reading through systematic synthetic phonics. The ELS programme begins in Reception and continues into Year 1.

Reading Books

Each week, your child will bring home a decodable 'Phonics Book' which we expect to be read a minimum of four times across the week. These books will be closely matched to the sounds that your child is learning in class and will give them an opportunity to practise and apply their new phonic knowledge. Your child will also bring home a HRS (Harder to Read and Spell) booklet and a Phoneme Booklet home. You should support your child in practising the phonemes and words these books contain.

Your child should be able to independently decode (sound out) and blend the words in these books. However, it is vital that they are reading to an adult to ensure that any mistakes and misconceptions are addressed.

If your child has read their book four times, and you are looking to extend them, you could try asking them questions about what they have read, or you could ask them to find some of the phonemes they are studying in the story. Alternatively, you could visit your local library or read books from home, looking for the sounds from their phonics book of the week.