At Ysgol Y Graig, we place considerable emphasis on early language aquisition and encourage children from the very beginning, through play and practice, to listen to the sounds of the world and develop the foundational understanding that leads to effective communication.
As a school we follow a synthetic phonics programme called ELS (Essential Letters and Sounds).
ELS is a synthetic phonics programme which we use to help children learn to read in Phases 1 and 2 (Recpetion to Year 3).
Here you can find more information on what ELS is and how you can support your child at home.
What is Synthetic Phonics?
Synthetic phonics is a way of teaching children to read. It teaches children how sounds are represented by written letters. Children are taught to read words by blending these sounds together to make words. For example, they will be taught that the letters ‘m-a-t’ blend together to make ‘mat’. A synthetic phonics programme, such as ELS, is a structure for teaching these sounds in a certain order to build up children’s learning gradually. It is used daily from Reception (Earlier if your child is ready) to teach all the sounds in the English language.
How is ELS taught in schools?
With ELS, there is a daily phonics lesson where the teacher teaches a new sound, or reviews sounds learned earlier in the week. This is shown to the class on the whiteboard. Children learn the letters that represent the sounds. They are then asked to read words and sentences with the new sounds in. Children will also practise writing the letters that represent the sounds.
What order are the sounds taught in?
New sounds are taught each day, with some review days and weeks to help children practise what they’ve learned. If you woudl like to know what phase your child is working on, please ask the class teacher. You can then click below to find out more about each of the phases.
Children learn to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sounds they represent. Pronounce the sounds as you would say them within a word. Make sure you don’t add ‘uh’ onto the end, so for ‘m’ say ‘mm’ not ‘muh’ and for ‘l’ say ‘ull’ not ‘luh’. The videos below show you how to pronounce the sounds.
ELS is delivered using a whole-class approach. This ensures that all children benefit from the full curriculum. Children who encounter difficulties are supported by the teacher throughout the lesson, and where further support is required, ELS has three interventions to ensure that any learning gaps are quickly filled. These are intended to be short and concise. This helps ensure that children do not spend excessive time outside of the classroom or in group intervention sessions where they are removed from the rest of the curriculum.
Assessment
It is important that children’s progress is assessed thoroughly, so that any gaps can quickly be identified. Assessment of the children’s reading skills is key to ensuring that all children make rapid progress through the programme, and that they keep up rather than catch up.
We assess children’s phonic knowledge in the fifth week of each half term, to allow all members of staff to target and close any gaps that may be present in either sound knowledge or reading skills. By undertaking assessment in the fifth week we are able to action a direct intervention before any upcoming school holidays.
How can I help at home?
Practising the sounds
You can help your child practise the sounds they have been learning at school. Download the charts linked above (under What order are the sounds taught in?) so you can see the list of sounds in the order they’ll be taught. You can show these to your child along with the picture to help them remember.
Blending
After children learn to read some sounds separately, they can start blending them together to form simple words. Take a look at the video below for ideas on how you can practise word blending with your child.
Reading decodable books
Your child will bring home reading books with words that use the sounds they have been learning that week. You may hear these reading books called ‘decodable books’.
