There is a substantial body of evidence which demonstrates that systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective method for teaching all children to read. Phonics teaches children how to recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes, identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make, and blend these sounds together to make a word. Children can then use this knowledge to decode new words that they see. We use 'Little Wnadle Letters and Sounds revised' to plan our phonics across school.

During Year 1 children will be learning Phase 5 phonics. This means that they will be learning to read and write longer words, and will begin to learn the different ways phonemes can be spelt. For example, they will learn that 'ai' can also be written as 'ay' and 'a_e'. 

Children In Year 1 will take part in the Phonics Screening Check in June which is a statutory check from the government. The check comprises of 40 words - 20 of which are real words, and 20 are non-words.

You can help your child to practise the skills involved in this check by helping them to segment (sound out) and blend those sounds to read each word. If you have any questions please do come and ask Miss Eagle-Brown or Miss Polson.

You can play a game on Phonics Play or you can look at the previous years checks by googling 'Y1 Phonics Screening Check'.