Phonics at Merton Junior School:

At Merton, we value the essential reading dimensions needed for early word reading and comprehension. We strive for our learners to conduct skilled word reading through: working out the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding); recognising familiar printed words; applying their understanding of the alphabetic code when spelling. Fluent decoding supports pupils’ comprehension as they don’t have to devote mental energy to individual words. A good grasp of phonics is also important for spelling, contributing to fluency and confidence in writing. (DfE 2012)

At Merton Junior School we build on the foundation provided by the infant school and give children the opportunity to revisit and apply their grapheme-phoneme correspondences (letters to sounds) through Rocket Phonics.

Rocket Phonics is a systematic synthetic phonics programme that has been written and approved by phonics experts. The reading books we use have been carefully designed to appeal to the tastes and interests of children who are starting out on their reading journey. They include a variety of fiction and non-fiction, and have been carefully devised to provide practice and application of phonics knowledge and skills in full alignment with other reading opportunities across the school.

What to expect:

Each week, children at Merton Junior School have the opportunity to select their own reading books from either our library and our book-band area (if appropriate).

If your child is reading a book with book-band colour of: pink, red, yellow, blue, green or orange, they will be partaking in phonics in some form. This may be managed in class, during our reading workshop sessions or as an intervention for reading.

If you require any further information, please see your child's class teacher or the online parent booklet.