Phonics and Early Reading: A Guide for Parents of Year 1 and Year 2 Children

If your child is in Year 1 or Year 2, you have probably heard a lot about phonics. Schools send home reading books with phonics sets, use terms like “graphemes” and “phonemes”, and assess children against phonics phases. For many parents, this can feel confusing or unfamiliar. This guide explains clearly how phonics works, what the Phonics Screening Check involves, and how you can support your child at home.

What Is Phonics?

Phonics is a method of teaching reading and spelling based on the relationship between sounds and the letters (or groups of letters) that represent them.

• A phoneme is a unit of sound (e.g. the “sh” sound in “ship”)
• A grapheme is the letter or letters that represent that sound (e.g. the letters “sh”)
• Blending is the skill of combining phonemes to read a word: “c” + “a” + “t” = “cat”
• Segmenting is the reverse — breaking a word into its phonemes for spelling

In England, schools are required to use a systematic, synthetic phonics programme. The most widely used include Read Write Inc., Letters and Sounds (revised), and Little Wandle. The approach differs slightly between programmes but the underlying phonics knowledge is the same.

Phonics Phases

Phonics is typically taught in phases, each building on the previous:

• Phase 1 (Reception): Environmental sounds, rhyme, alliteration — developing phonological awareness before letters are introduced
• Phase 2 (Reception): The first 19 letters of the alphabet and their sounds; simple CVC words (cat, pin, hot)
• Phase 3 (Reception/Year 1): The remaining letters, plus digraphs (two letters making one sound) like “ch”, “sh”, “th”, “ee”, “oa”
• Phase 4 (Year 1): Blending and segmenting words with adjacent consonants (e.g. “st”, “bl”, “str”)
• Phase 5 (Year 1): Alternative spellings of phonemes (e.g. the “ee” sound can be spelled as “ee”, “ea”, “ie”, “e-e”, “ey”)
• Phase 6 (Year 2): Spelling conventions, past tenses, prefixes and suffixes

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

In June of Year 1, all children in England sit the Phonics Screening Check. This is a short, one-to-one assessment conducted by the class teacher. It is not an exam — children sit with their teacher and read 40 words aloud from a card. There is no time pressure and it takes around 5–7 minutes.

The 40 words include:

• 20 real words (e.g. “chip”, “boat”, “spring”)
• 20 pseudo-words — made-up words that still follow phonics rules (e.g. “blit”, “snorb”) — to check that children are using phonics rather than guessing from context

The threshold score changes each year but is typically around 32 out of 40. Children who do not meet the threshold resit in Year 2.

It is worth noting that the check does not affect secondary school applications or any future assessments. It is a diagnostic tool to help schools identify children who may need additional phonics support.

How to Support Phonics at Home

• Read the school reading book every day: Even a few pages matters. Ask your child to blend sounds they don't know rather than guessing from pictures
• Practise the sounds: Schools usually send home a list of the graphemes being taught. Practise sounding them out and blending them into short words
• Play sound games: “I spy something beginning with the ‘sh’ sound” or “Can you think of three words that rhyme with ‘cat’?”
• Don't skip the pseudo-words: If the school sends home nonsense word practice, take it seriously — this is exactly what the Phonics Screening Check uses
• Read to your child: Books that are beyond their independent reading level expose them to richer vocabulary and story structures — both important for developing comprehension alongside decoding