Learning Phonics 

Following an update from the DfE around phonics teaching we have moved to Essential Letters and Sounds, this is a phonics programme based on Letters and Sounds (2007). This new phonics programme will support your children in making quick progress to become fluent and confident readers.

Essential Letters and Sounds is a Dfe validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme. The programme teaches children how to read through the art of decoding and blending. 

Although Phonics is mainly taught in Early Years and KS1, support is also provided later on in KS2 for children who still require specific phonics support. The ELS scheme enables our children to make clear links between the phoneme (sounds) and the graphemes (representation of these sounds).

To best support us in teaching your child how to read we ask that you read the decodable text provided by the school 4 times across the week. Spending 10 minutes a day reading with your child will hugely support them in their journey to becoming an independent reader. 

We will be changing children’s books once a week; this allows your child to re-read each text several times building their confidence and fluency. This is especially important as they begin to learn that the sounds within our language can be spelt in different ways.

It is a key part of learning to read that children re-read words and sentences that they can decode (sound out) until they are fluent (read with ease and precision). By reading texts several times children have the greatest opportunity to achieve this fluency. 

The texts sent home are carefully matched to the teaching taking place in school. Your child will be practising what they have been taught in school with you at home. We will only ask children to read books independently when they can decode these by themselves. Any books that are not yet decodable for the children will be a sharing book. These books are there for you to read with your child, helping us to instill a love of reading from the very beginning of their reading journey. These could be read together with your child reading the words they are able to decode or could be read to your child. 

USEFUL RESOURCES:

ELS Parent Guide

ELS pure sounds Phase 2 (video): https://vimeo.com/641445921/9382cf6db0

ELS pure sounds Phase 3 (video): https://vimeo.com/642342878/59d233684c

ELS pure sounds Phase 5 (video)https://vimeo.com/753933192/43104a30e0

ELS parent website support
 
Phonics: How to blend sounds to to read words| Oxford Owl 
 

Alphablocks

Jolly Phonics

Jolly phonics App:   Group 1 sounds ‘s, a, t, p, i, n’ are free, Rest of the sounds can be purchased for a on off £9.99

Teach your monster to read

Android app £4.99;  Apple app (Mostly free -some levels may require in app purchases but needs further exploring)

Read with phonics

App: Free demo for first few sounds in each phase- then in app purchases (£6.99 for all sounds)

Website: https://www.readwithphonics.com/phonics-resources (free downloadable resources)