What is Phonics?

Phonics is the teaching of the sounds letters make, both individually and in groups. Phonics is a powerful teaching tool as it enables children to decode letters into their respective sounds and blend these back together to read unfamiliar words by themselves. By teaching children phonics, we are arming them with the skills they need to read many unknown words independently.

At Sir Henry Fermor Primary School there is a rigorous programme of synthetic phonics teaching across the school. We follow the letters and sounds scheme and use resources such as Phonics Play and Espresso to support the children’s learning. Phonics is taught discretely for a minimum of 20 minutes a day across the Foundation Stage and Key Stage One. At Sir Henry Fermor we believe that phonics should be taught as a whole class, with interventions taking place to support those children who need further support. Phonics is fast paced, teaching a new sound each day, and ensures that our children learn in a fun, engaging, practical and interactive way.

During Year 2, the children develop their understanding of the phonics already taught and their understanding of other spelling patterns. They learn about homophones, compound words and contractions.

Alongside this they learn to instantly recognise by sight the most common words in the English language. Many of these words are not phonically regular and it is important that they develop automation in their sight vocabulary.