Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is how we teach the children to read and write. It teaches children to hear, identify and use different sounds to distinguish one word from another in the English language.
Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they’re combined, help children decode words as they read.
Understanding Phonics will help children to know which letters to use when they are writing words.
Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters.
For example the sound ‘k’ can be spelled using k (kite), c (cat), ck (sock), or even ch (echo).
We teach children to blend the sounds of letters together which helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out.
For example children first learn the sounds s, a, t, p, i, n and they are then able to build up words such as:
s-a-t = sat
t-i-n = tin
p-a-n-s = pans
At St Stephen’s Infant School we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Phonics Programme to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons.
Our phonics teaching starts in Foundation Stage and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might come across.
We also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of Phonics lessons and across the curriculum.
How we teach phonics and Early Reading
How do we assess phonic knowledge?
If you are a parent and would like more information about how to support your child with phonics at home, please follow this link to find useful resources including videos of the sound pronunciations.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/