Phonics

Phonics from the Start - and until they can read

At St Thomas Primary School, we teach phonics using a linguistic phonics programme called Sounds-Write. 

The Sounds-Write programme starts by building on what children can already do: they can speak! They are taught to read and spell using a reversible code that is anchored in the spoken sounds of the English language Children then systematically learn how these sounds are coded in our writing. 

The four key concepts children need to learn are: 

letters are symbols that represent sounds 

sounds can be spelled using 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters 

the same sound can be spelled in different ways 

the same spelling can represent different sounds 

The three keys skills children need to master are: 

● Segmenting -– the ability to pull apart the individual sounds in words. 

● Blending – the ability to push sounds together to build words. 

● Phoneme manipulation – the ability to insert sounds into and delete sounds out  of words. 

In partnership with parents we encourage all children to learn to read as quickly as possible. We have a clear focus on the use of phonics and also understanding of the text – comprehension. Sounds Write has pre-approval from the DfE as an accredited scheme.



Here are the resources published by Sounds Write to help parents understand the phonics scheme - click here