What Is Jolly Phonics? A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers

Jolly Phonics at a Glance

What Does "Synthetic Phonics" Mean?

"Synthetic" here means synthesis: putting parts together. A child learns individual sounds such as /c/, /a/ and /t/, then pushes them together to read cat, even if nobody has shown them that word before.

This is different from memorising whole words by sight. A child who has memorised ten words can read ten words. A child who knows how sounds work can work out thousands of words they have never seen. See our full comparison of synthetic phonics vs sight words.

Systematic means the sounds are taught in a planned order, not whenever they happen to come up. Research reviews stress that this planned sequence is one of the main reasons phonics works.

Who Created Jolly Phonics?

Jolly Phonics was developed by Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham, who were teachers at Woods Loke Primary School in Lowestoft, England. They designed it around what actually helped children in their classrooms remember sounds and start reading.

The programme is published by Jolly Learning Ltd, an independent, family-owned British publisher founded in 1987. Jolly Learning reports that its programmes are used in more than 150 countries.

How Jolly Phonics Works: The 5 Core Skills

Jolly Phonics teaches five skills side by side from the very first weeks. For problems and fixes at each stage, read our detailed guide to the 5 skills of Jolly Phonics.

1. Learning the letter sounds

Children learn the 42 main sounds of English, not just the 26 letter names. Each sound has a short story, a song and an action. For /s/, children weave a hand like a snake while saying "sss". See how these songs and actions work.

See the full Jolly Phonics sounds list with pronunciation tips.

2. Learning letter formation

While learning each sound, children learn to write its letter correctly, first in the air, then by tracing, then on paper. Good pencil grip is taught from the start.

3. Blending

Blending means saying the sounds in a word and joining them to hear the word: /d/ /o/ /g/ → dog. This is the key skill for reading, and practice starts from the first week. Teachers learn how to model it step by step in Jolly Phonics teacher training.

4. Identifying the sounds in words (segmenting)

This is blending in reverse. The child hears a word and breaks it into sounds: sun → /s/ /u/ /n/. This is the key skill for spelling and writing.

5. Tricky words

Some very common words, such as the, was and said, contain spellings children have not learned yet. These are taught as "tricky words" so children can read simple sentences early.

See the full list with teaching tips: Jolly Phonics 72 tricky words and how to teach them.

The 42 Letter Sounds and 7 Groups

The 42 sounds of Jolly Phonics are not taught in A-to-Z order. They are grouped so children can build and read words as early as possible. After Group 1 alone, a child can already read words like sat, pin, tap and nap.

Notice that some sounds use two letters (ai, sh, th). These are called digraphs: two letters that make one sound. English has 26 letters but around 42 main sounds, which is why digraphs are needed.

Tricky Words in Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics introduces 72 tricky words in a set order. According to Jolly Learning's teacher guide, they begin from the /sh/ lesson in Group 6.

The first tricky words children usually meet are:

I, the, he, she, me, we, be, was, to, do, of

Tricky words are not taught by memorising the whole word. Children look for the parts they can sound out and focus on the tricky part. In was, for example, the /w/ and /s/ are regular; only the "a" is tricky.

What Comes After the 42 Sounds? Steps 1, 2 and 3

Learning the 42 sounds is only the beginning.

After Step 1 a child can read many simple words. Steps 2 and 3 are what move them from reading rain to also reading play and cake, which use the same sound spelled differently.

Children who need to go further, into syllables, word parts and complex spelling patterns, move on to advanced phonics. Our advanced phonics classes for ages 7–12 cover this stage.

Why Jolly Phonics Teaches Sounds Before Letter Names

Many children in India and the Gulf start school knowing the alphabet song. They can say "A, B, C" but still cannot read.

The reason is simple. Knowing the letter name "bee" does not help a child read bat. The letter name "bee", plus "ay", plus "tee" gives "bee-ay-tee", not bat. The child needs the letter sounds: /b/ /a/ /t/.

That is why Jolly Phonics teaches sounds first. Letter names are introduced later, once the child can already use the sounds to read.

Does Jolly Phonics Work? What the Research Says

The research supports systematic synthetic phonics as an approach, and Jolly Phonics is one of the best-known programmes that uses it.

• The Rose Review (2006), commissioned by the UK government, recommended systematic synthetic phonics as the preferred method for teaching early reading in England.
• The Clackmannanshire study in Scotland followed children taught with synthetic phonics over seven years. They finished primary school well ahead of their age in word reading and spelling. This study used its own synthetic phonics programme, not Jolly Phonics specifically.
• A 2018 research review (Castles, Rastle and Nation) found systematic phonics more effective than teaching phonics incidentally or relying on memorising whole words.
• Jolly Phonics is validated by the UK Department for Education as a systematic synthetic phonics programme.

Jolly Phonics for Children Who Speak Another Language at Home

In many families in India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, children speak Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Arabic or Urdu at home. They meet English mainly at school.

Jolly Phonics suits these children well because:

• It starts with sounds, not vocabulary. A child does not need to know many English words to learn /s/ /a/ /t/.
• Actions and songs carry meaning. They help children who are still learning spoken English.
• It builds on sound awareness children already have. Indian scripts such as Devanagari are organised by sound. Children who know the barakhadi already understand that symbols stand for sounds. In our experience, connecting this to English letter sounds helps many children progress faster.
• It gives pronunciation a clear standard. Each sound is taught as a pure sound, which supports clearer spoken English as well as reading.

We teach many of these families online, including children in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

What Age Should a Child Start Jolly Phonics?

Jolly Phonics is usually started between ages 4 and 5, and it's designed for the first year of formal schooling. Many children begin in UKG or KG2.

Older children who have been memorising words often find reading much easier once they learn how sounds work. Starting late is common and fixable.

How to Tell If a Class Is Teaching Jolly Phonics Properly

Many classes use the name "Jolly Phonics". Here's a practical checklist for parents:

• Pure sounds: does the teacher say /s/, not "suh"?
• Actions for every sound: children should be doing the actions, not just watching.
• Blending from week one: children should be reading short words early, not only reciting sounds for months.
• Writing alongside reading: letter formation and dictation should be part of every week.
• Tricky words taught in order: not handed over as a long list to memorise.
• Small groups: children need individual turns to blend and to be corrected. See how our small-batch classes work.
• Reading real text: by the end, children should be reading simple books and sentences, not just word lists.

Jolly Phonics vs Other Ways of Teaching Reading

Jolly Phonics also teaches a small number of tricky words by sight, but only as a support. Sounding out is always the main strategy.

Learn Jolly Phonics With Jolly Phonics Online

Jolly Phonics Online has taught Jolly Phonics, Jolly Grammar and advanced phonics since 2004, online and in Mumbai.

For children: live online Jolly Phonics classes in small groups, with a free demo class.

For teachers and parents: a Jolly Phonics teacher training course covering all five skills, advanced phonics and how to run phonics classes, with a Certificate of Participation. Teachers in the Gulf can train online: UAE · Saudi Arabia.

Jolly Phonics is a programme published by Jolly Learning Ltd. Jolly Phonics Online is an independent teaching and training provider and is not affiliated with Jolly Learning Ltd.