We begin the process of learning to read in the Early Years Foundation Stage with systematic, high quality phonics teaching. We teach our children to read using a consistent approach throughout EYFS, KS1 and beyond.
Synthetic phonics refers to an approach to the teaching of reading in which the phonemes [sounds] associated with particular graphemes [letters] are pronounced in isolation and blended together (synthesised). For example, children are taught to take a single-syllable word such as cat apart into its three letters, pronounce a phoneme for each letter in turn, and blend the phonemes together to form a word. Synthetic phonics for writing reverses the sequence: children are taught to say the word they wish to write, segment it into its phonemes and say them in turn, for example d-o-g, and write a grapheme for each phoneme in turn to produce the written word, dog.
We follow the one of the DfE recommended phonics schemes: Read, Write, Inc. Phonics scheme, which the children begin as soon as they enter reception. The children in Reception and KS1 actively take part in small group daily phonics sessions. By the end of Year 2, it is our expectation that the vast majority of children will be fluent readers and will no longer need explicit phonics teaching for reading.
More information on Read, Write, Inc. Phonics can be found on the parent introduction video and the parent leaflets below.
