What is Phonics?

“Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write.  It helps children hear, identify and use the different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English Language.”

(National Literacy Trust)

How is Phonics taught at Himbleton?
At Himbleton, children in Nursery to Year 2 are taught phonics using the DfE approved Little Wandle Phonics programme which is a fully comprehensive, systematic synthetic phonics teaching programme based on Letters and Sounds.  It aims to ensure that every child becomes a lifelong reader and writer, as well as supporting children's speaking and listening skills in their own right.  

This is the method used to teach children to read by linking phonemes (sounds) and the symbols that represent them (letters and groups of letters, known as graphemes) which are pronounced in isolation and synthesised (blended together). 

Anticipated progress and aims

• Teach children how to connect letter symbols with the appropriate sound and to learn to write these correctly
• Phonemic awareness
• Increased independence and confidence when reading and sounding out unfamiliar words
• Increased understanding of syllables
• Spelling strategies

Phonics Screening Check

Children in Year 1 will undertake the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) in June every year.  This is a check of a child's phonics knowledge which confirms whether a child is making the progress expected in the National Curriculum.  This check takes the form of 40 words divided into two sections of 20 words.  Both sections contain a mixture of real words and pseudo-words (words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an associated meaning).  Pseudo words (often known as alien words) are included in the check to ensure that a child is able to decode a word using their phonic skills.

If a child does not meet the expected standard in Year 1 in the PSC, interventions in school will support  learning and consolidation of the phonic sounds which are not yet secure and the test will be re-taken at the end of Year 2.

For more information about the Phonics Screening Check (PSC), click here.

Reading

In conjunction with being taught phonics, children in Reception and Year 1 are taught to read and to apply their knowledge through reading carefully chosen books from Collins' Big Cat which match a child's reading level and which are fully decodable.  Children will read these books three times in any one week before they bring this home to read.  This is known as a Reading Practice Book and is designed to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

We encourage parents and carers to listen to their child read the book and to give their child lots of praise and to celebrate their success, helping with words that their child may find challenging and talking about the book as well as reading the words.

Sharing book

In order to encourage children to become lifelong readers, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure and will also bring home additional books, known as Sharing Books, in which children will encounter words and sounds they may not yet know.  These books are designed to be read together with support.