What is Synthetic Phonics?
Phonics is by no means the only tool children use to learn to read, but it is an essential skill which needs to be learnt quickly and effectively.
All ‘phonics’ involves teaching letter-sound correspondences. The adjective ‘synthetic’ refers to the fact that children are taught to ‘synthesise’ (i.e. put together or build up) pronunciations for unfamiliar written words by translating letters into sounds and blending the sounds together (‘blending = ‘synthesising’). This is why it is important to teach your child how to say the letter sounds correctly. The video beneath outlines the key 44 phonemes.
Synthetic phonics is particularly appropriate at the very beginning of children’s schooling, when written words are unfamiliar and the children need a simple and clear introduction to the underlying principle of alphabetic writing.
We successfully use the Read Write Scheme written by Ruth Miskin. This scheme is approved by the DFE. For more in-depth information follow this link.