Our Subjects

We use Jolly Phonics as our scheme.

 

What is Jolly Phonics?

Jolly Phonics is a comprehensive programme, based on a fun and multi-sensory synthetic phonics method that gets children reading and writing from and early age. We teach the 42 letter sounds as opposed to the alphabet. These 42 letter sounds are the phonic building blocks that children require to decode the English language. The programme is comprised of five key skills that children need to master phonics which include learning how to write the letter sounds, how to blend the sounds for reading, and how to identify the sounds in the words for spelling and writing. Alongside this, children learn about tricky words as well as being introduced to the alternative spellings of vowels. These five key skills form the foundation that children build on with each year of grammar teaching.

Learning the letter sounds

Children are taught 42 letter sounds, which is a mix of alphabet sounds (1 sound – 1 letter) and digraphs (1 sound – 2 letters) such as sh, th, ai and ue. Using a multi-sensory approach each letter sound is introduced with fun actions, stories and songs. We teach the letter sounds in 7 groups of 6 letters at a pace of 4-5 sounds a week. Children can start reading after the first group of letters have been taught and should have been introduced to all the 42 letter sounds after 9 weeks at school.

Learning letter formation

This is taught alongside the introduction of each letter sound. Typically, children will learn how to form and write the letters.

Blending

Once the first few letter sounds are learnt, children begin blending the sounds together to help them read and write new words.

Segmenting

When children start reading words, they also need to start identifying the phonic components that make the word sound the way it does. By teaching blending and segmenting at the same time children become familiar with assembling and breaking down the sounds within words.

Tricky Words

These are words with irregular parts, such as ‘who’ and ‘I’. Children learn these as exceptions to the rules of phonics. Introducing the common tricky words early in the year increases reading fluency (as they frequently occur in those first simple sentences you might expect them to read)

You can find more details in THIS DOCUMENT.