Jolly Phonics is taught from the beginning of the Reception Year. Pupils entering Reception will have experienced a range of listening activities and will have acquired a sound underpinning of phonological awareness. They will be able to distinguish between speech sounds and many will be able to blend and segment words orally.
Pupils will be taught the 26 letters in the English alphabet system. They will therefore move from oral blending and segmenting to blending and segmenting using letters (graphemes). They will also be introduced to reading two-syllable words, captions, and tricky words.
During the first half term in Reception, pupils will be taught to recognise most of the letters in the alphabet system. They will learn one new letter/sound per day and will begin to use phonic strategies to blend for reading and segment for spelling these phonetically regular words from the very start. Every lesson follows a highly structured teaching sequence which begins by revisiting prior learning in order for pupils to secure their knowledge of taught phoneme (sounds) / grapheme (letters) correspondences. Following this, the teach element introduces pupils to one new phoneme/grapheme correspondence. They will also learn to form this letter correctly, identify both the upper / lower case letter, learn the letter name and the sound (phoneme) as well as learn long and short vowel sounds in order to avoid any misconceptions from the very beginning. In the practice part of the lesson, pupils will engage in blending and segmenting activities. These skills will be taught using explicit phonic strategies that are consistently used throughout every year group within school to provide consistency and clarity. Finally, the apply part of the lesson gives pupils the opportunity to use their understanding of the new phoneme/grapheme within a ‘real’ reading or writing situation.
The phonics lesson is delivered using a multi-sensory approach. Pupils are taught letters/sounds via an engaging story, song with an action (mnemonic) and visually engaging illustrations. This allows for a secure retention of new learning due to its ability to inspire young learners.