I learnt to read with my friends Peter and Jane (and Pat the dog!) and cried when I got to 12c and the end of the series. I didn’t question the fact that Jane spent most of her time helping Mum with household chores. I just loved the stories and have been an avid reader ever since.

When my daughter started school I quickly realised that she was talking an alien language when she pronounced the alphabet phonetically – something I had never been taught to do. She was, like the vast majority of primary school kids in Britain today, following a Synthetic Phonics programme. It may sound like some kind of motor oil or food additive, but actually it is a way of teaching to read based on the 44 sounds (some argue 42 or 46 but let’s not get too technical) made by single letters or small groups of letters like ‘ch’, ‘ea’, ‘qu’. Once you have learnt the sounds, you can blend them together into words: c-a-t or sh-i-p. “There’s a mystery associated with this word ‘phonics’ – all it’s really about is the relationship of the sounds that we all make when we’re speaking and the spelling of words,” says Leslie White, training manager with book publisher, Letterland.

“Unfortunately though we have 26 letters for the 44 sounds so the problem is that there aren’t enough letters to cover all of our speech sounds, so learning to read English is much harder than, say, Spanish,” says Ruth Miskin, a former head teacher, who has been at the forefront of embedding phonics in schools. “The easiest way to learn to read is to start by learning just one symbol to represent each speech sound. Once the children have mastered this you can then teach the other main spellings of the same sounds. Then you can work out how to read most words,” enthuses Miskin. Synthetic Phonics reading schemes also teach children several high frequency or ‘tricky’ words that they need to learn by sight like: ‘he’, ‘the’, or ‘said’.

Despite sounding new-fangled, the teaching of phonics was well established back in the 1950s. Ironically it was deemed ‘old fashioned’ and the ‘story book’ (reading lots of books) or ‘look and say’ method was introduced as it was thought to be more child friendly. But a lot of teachers realised that teaching phonics was still important.

Sue Lloyd was one of those teachers. Impressed by the results of a research project using phonics she devised her own reading scheme called Jolly Phonics. “Sue appeared on breakfast television in February 1992 and TV-am’s phones were blocked for three days,” says Jolly Phonics’ publisher, Christopher Jolly. In 2006 a Reading Review by Sir Jim Rose, a former Ofsted director, concluded that “Synthetic Phonics offers the vast majority of young children the best and most direct route to becoming skilled readers and writers.” His recommendations were adopted by the Goverment and in 2007 teaching children to read using Make reading fun. Include actions, do silly “voices and don’t forget nursery rhymes.”

Synthetic Phonics became compulsory and the Government introduced its ‘Letters and Sounds’ Synthetic Phonics programme, available free to all teachers. Fifty years of ‘look and say’, dismissed by many teachers as ‘look and guess’, were consigned to the shelves of retro vintage book shops.

The Government’s scheme has been well received by most teachers – even those in the private sector that aren’t obliged to follow the state’s lead on education. Rebecca Rogers, Head of Early Years at the Hurlingham School in Putney, says since they began using the ‘Letters and Sounds’ scheme they haven’t looked back. “The children are quickly able to decode words and soon realise that if they can read it they should be able to try and write it too.”

It certainly seems to be working. The Government says children’s literacy standards have never been higher – with 86% reaching the expected level 4 in reading at the end of primary school in 2008, in comparison to just 67% in 1997. Learning to read phonetically is also good for children with dyslexia and the drive has been welcomed by the dyslexia charity, Dyslexia Action

So how did I manage to learn to read with just Peter and Jane for company? Miskin says that I probably worked out the alphabetic code by myself albeit a lot more slowly than if I’d had a good phonic start in life. “Through the practice of reading somehow or other you cracked the code yourself but it probably didn’t help your spelling,” adds Miskin. Thank goodness for computer spell checks.

Being taught phonetically will not necessarily impact on what your child reads once they start to get on to story books. Most teachers agree that no one reading scheme will suit a particular year group and it is generally best to swap around on different ones to give children variety and keep their interest. “Some children whizz through basic phonics and learn the high frequency words very easily, so they will enjoy non-phonic based books too,” adds Alison Cordingley, Head of Juniors at Blackheath High School.

Wendy Livingstone, Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 Learning Manager at St Mary’s C of E School in Putney, says that she’s very much “hooked on phonics” but that she also uses non-phonic reading schemes. “We start the children on phonic-based books in Reception once we have taught them the skills to decode words for themselves and learnt some high frequency 'tricky words'. As soon as they’ve some fluency under their belts and they know a lot of sight words we move them on to something like Biff and Chip (a nonphonics based programme) because they are interesting stories which both parents and children enjoy reading together. Within no time at all they’re independent readers and can begin early chapter books.” So what can you do at home to help you baby, toddler or pre-schooler cultivate a love of books? The best thing you can do to help your child is to read to them. Research suggests that nursery rhymes such as ‘Jack and Jill’ can actually help with spelling and understanding of literacy, says Sally Hobbs, Headmistress of Orchard House in Chiswick.

Your pre-schooler will also benefit from learning the sounds of the letters of the alphabet.  “Talk about things that begin with a certain letter at home. Find objects around the house that begin with ‘t’ for example (like table, telephone etc),” says Cordingley. Rebecca Green, project manager for Early Reading Connects says simply: “Make reading fun.”  Include actions, do silly voices and don’t forget nursery rhymes. Remember, you don’t just have to read books. “Read anything from recipes, bus timetables, adverts, to football scores as they are all valid forms of reading and it emphasises reading is a vital life skill.” Don’t expect your child to start reading the moment they start Reception. Most teachers agree that it is better to get a good foundation in the sounds and blends first rather than rush your child on to a reading book too early. Often children will be given a picture book with no words to start with. “It’s still a story book even though it doesn’t have words. It’s also about comprehension,” explains Reception teacher at South Hampstead High, Natasha Fisher. Do ask the school to explain how they are teaching reading. If you understand the teaching method then you will be able to help your child more. And when you read at home pick a quiet time when there are no distractions.

USEFUL LINKS

Campaign for Real Education cre.org.uk

Government guidance

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/47297

Dyslexia Action dyslexiaaction.org.uk

Early Reading Connects earlyreadingconnects.org.uk

Literacy charity literacytrust.org.uk

National Right to Read Foundation nrrf.org

Phonics advice and training whichphonics.co.uk

Reading Reform Foundation rrf.org.uk

READING SCHEMES

Best Practice Phonics rigbyed.co.uk

Dandelion Readers phonicbooks.co.uk

Fast Phonics First and Rigby Star Phonics heinemann.co.uk

Hooked On Phonics hookedonphonics.com

Jelly and Bean jellyandbean.co.uk

Jolly Phonics jollylearning.co.uk

Peter and Jane, Superhero Phonics, Read it Yourself ladybird.com

Letterland letterland.com

Oxford Reading Tree oup.com.

Ruth Miskin readwriteinc.com