Anchorsholme Primary School
Phonics Scheme of Work
S McGrath
13
Our aim is to use a mixture of resources and strategies to impact on reading and writing standards in
our school. We want a consistent approach to be employed throughout the school so that pupils
can use and apply skills they have been taught in subsequent year groups. We also want our phonics
to be embedded in all we do. By the time our pupils reach year Four we are expecting them to have
developed independent skills
Foundation
Stage
Term One
To name and
be able to
write all 26
letters of the
alphabet.
Phase 1 (7 Aspects)
Working on: Showing awareness of rhyme and alliteration, distinguishing between
different sounds in the environment and phonemes, exploring and experimenting
with sounds and words and discriminating speech sounds in words. Beginning to
orally blend and segment phonemes.
Introduce the THRASS Raps starting with the alphabet Rap. Cover all 26 letters
simultaneously. Children are to be able to name letters in random order and match
initial letters to objects.
Introduce the cursive alphabet and work through in this order:
c, a, d, g, q (up and over)
o, s,
p, b, h, k, l, t, I (straight up and down)
e, f, (looping)
m, n, u, y, z, j, (lead in)
r, v, w, x, (lead in with a top lead out)
Use jolly phonics, THRASS Raps to introduce the initial sounds these letters can
make. Work on the Phoneme Machine so the children can see how to produce the
correct sound. When listening to the THRASS Raps for the vowel and consonant
phoneme raps you will have to circle the key letter that typically makes that
phoneme. Have your large charts accessible so that you can point to them to
model their use and so they can be used at all times.
Children exposed to print often spontaneously begin to make marks. They gradually
learn that there are connections between individual letters of the alphabet, sounds,
the fact that letters make up words, and that they are grouped with spaces
between them. Children will guess at words in a ‘logographic’ way, trying, as it
were, to swallow it whole.
Semi-phonetic stage
At the semi-phonetic stage, children make a leap from imitating letters into
experimenting with writing words. They grasp that letters are linked to speech
sounds, and that they can combine them to make satisfactory words for
themselves. They will select consonants that represent the word: e.g. Lks for Lukas.
Foundation
Stage
Term Two
To be able to
Phase 2 & Phase 3
Working on: Knowing that words are constructed from phonemes and that
phonemes are represented by graphemes.
Working on: Using common consonants and vowels Blending for reading and
segmenting for spelling simple CVC words.
identify the
phonemes
and
graphemes
within CVC
words.
Continue to work on letter names and letter formation.
Using a mixture of approaches work through using the THRASS Raps. Children
should become familiar with the phonemes and be able to locate the appropriate
areas on the THRASS Chart. if you say the ‘s’ phoneme they should be able to
locate the spelling choices – sun, dress, horse, city, ice
Play games/work sheets where the children are breaking up CVC words into the
phonemes they can hear and model with a dot – m a t
. . .
M as in mouse, a as in ant and t as in tap. Differentiate accordingly – initial and
final phonemes extending to medial phonemes.
The next step is seen to occur when children begin to use a 'one letter spells one
sound' strategy. This means that they have grasped that the letter ‘a’ can
correspond to a long sound, so they will write kam for came. To do this, they are
relying on how a word feels in the mouth as they sound it out.
Within a period of a few months, they will move on to recognising chunks of words.
This means that they are now able to recall orthographic patterns they have seen
over and over again. A child who began by writing akt will quickly realise he or she
needs an ‘s’ to produce ask, and that the original ‘t’ ending is usually spelt ‘ed’.
They have progressed to writing asked. Another sequence might progress like this:
tgk – thiek – tangk – thingk – think.
Foundation
Stage
Term Three
Phase 4
To be able to
identify the
phonemes
and
graphemes for
more complex
words.
Sing along with the THRASS Raps to provide an awareness of the 44 phonemes and
graphemes. Ask the children to listen to words from the Reception high frequency
word list that are not CVC words. Use the THRASS Hotwords cards to support the
identification of phonemes. Children should be able to locate the appropriate
phoneme box on the THRASS Chart. Teacher to direct the children to the correct
spelling choice if an incorrect choice has been selected. For instance if breaking up
the word ‘her’ they may select the ‘ur ‘as in fur rather than fern.
Play games to break up and recombine words into their phonemes.
Year One
Term One
To consolidate Phase 4 skills
Working on: Blending adjacent consonants in words and applying this skill when
reading unfamiliar texts.
Working on: Segmenting adjacent consonants in words and applying this in
spelling.
Reinforce the letter names with the cursive writing.
Begin to break up high frequency words into phonemes. Look at where to locate
the spelling choices and look at word shapes. Children are to be encouraged to use
their THRASS Charts when writing and select appropriate graphemes. They may
choose the wrong spelling choice but be prompted to select a phonetically
Continue to work on letter names and letter formation.
plausible choice. Work through spellings on phoneme machine and spellcity.com,
word shark using handwriting to consolidate.

Year One
Term Two
Year One
Term Three
Year Two
Phase 5 (Yr 1)
Working on: Spelling complex words using phonically plausible attempts.
Working on: Using alternative ways of pronouncing and spelling the graphemes
corresponding to the long vowel phonemes.
Working on: Reading phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words.
Continue with the THRASS Raps to ensure children are becoming familiar with all 44
phonemes and the spelling choices. Break words up into their phonemes from the
high frequency list. Look at where the graphemes are located on the THRASS Chart.
Use the phoneme machine so that children can become more confident in locating
the correct spelling choices.
For instance: these – th as in thumb, e as in me, se as in horse.
Children are to apply this when reading and writing. Work through the sequence of
spellings and sounds in the typical order using the cursive handwriting to support
and practise.
To continue to use and apply THRASS so that phonetically plausible spelling
attempts can be made with thought as to which phoneme box to use. Look at
spelling patterns in the choices provided –is the sound at the beginning, middle or
at the end? Which spelling example is then the most appropriate to select?
To use spelling lists and weekly tests to ensure high frequency words are formally
taught. Create spelling banks of words to go beneath the graphemes. Add ‘le’ to
the THRASS Chart for the phoneme ‘l’ along with the example leg and bell.
Break words up into their phonemes and identify the grapheme on the chart –
record as the picture.
Use phoneme machine, THRASS hotwords cards, THRASS Charts, high frequency
word lists, spellings to go home.
Phase 6
Working on: Securing the reading and spelling of words containing different
spellings for phonemes .
Working on: understanding the conventions for adding the suffix –ed for past tense
and –ing for present tense
Working on: splitting compound words into their component parts and using this
knowledge to support spelling.
Working on: adding common inflections (suffixes) to words
Working on: adding common prefixes to root words and understanding how they
change meaning,
Working on: discriminating syllables in multisyllabic words as an aid to spelling
To move beyond the stage of sounding out, children need to master several extra
elements:

Letter combinations

Spelling patterns

Ending rules

Phonic elements of consonants, vowels, consonant blends and consonant
digraphs
Year Three
We can cover all of the above in a holistic way:
Continue to work through the THRASS Raps so that children are continually
exposed to all 44 phonemes and the options for spelling choices. Look at spelling
patterns in the choices provided –is the sound at the beginning, middle or at the
end? Which spelling example is then the most appropriate to select?
Children are to explore how to break words up into their phonemes so that they
can see where they are from on the THRASS Chart. This can be applied when
reading. Model during shared and guided reading sessions. They are to then apply
the reverse of this skill when writing and think about the phonemes in the words
they want to use. If they make phonetically plausible attempts but have selected
the incorrect spelling choice a rigor of marking and discussion can help direct them
to the correct grapheme. However, with adventurous words the phonetically
plausible attempt should be celebrated.
Use the Phoneme Machine, THRASS Charts, high frequency word lists, spellings
sent home, LSCWC method,
Working on: consolidating understanding of suffixes and investigating conventions
related to the spelling pattern –le
Working on: spelling regular verb endings and beginning to learn irregular tense
changes
Working on: knowing what happens to the spelling of nouns when –s is added
Working on: understanding how words change when suffixes are added
Working on: embedding the correct use and spelling of pronouns
Working on: developing knowledge of prefixes to generate new words from root
words
Children start to see that sounds are represented by combinations of letters. They
also build up their ability to make predictions, based on patterns they have seen
recurring, for example in word endings, prefixes and suffixes.
The kinds of errors you might see now look like this:

PAPRES (papers)

HIAR (hair)

MOVEING (moving)

SRATE (straight)

PLAITID (planted)

NHITE (night)
These are not simply poor phonetic spellings: they show an awareness of needing
to use combinations of letters to represent sounds, and that the child is ready to
learn through direct instruction about endings.
When looking at all of the above use the THRASS Chart to break words up into their
phonemes. Explore the spelling choices of the words and look at how the spelling
choices alter when you change the tense, make the word singular or plural. Ensure
that this is a priority in written work and that there is a rigor of marking specifically
addressing these spelling patterns.
Use spelling banks, THRASS Charts,
Year Four
Use of toe to toe for SEN
Working on: distinguishing between the spelling and meaning of homophones
Working on: investigating, collecting and classifying spelling patterns related to the
formation of plurals
Working on: investigating and learning to spell words with common letter strings.
Working on: understanding how suffixes change the function of words.
Working on: understanding the use of the apostrophe in contracted forms of
words.
Working on: revising and investigating links between meaning and spelling when
using affixes
Pupils start to bring together their understanding of phonetic spelling with syllabic
and morphemic (meaning) spelling. This happens around year 4. They start to spell
meaningful parts of words, such as roots, prefixes and suffixes, in a consistent way.
They will grasp that homophones show how English spelling can sometimes be
determined by what the word means rather than how it sounds: e.g. two, to, and
too. They recognise compounds (e.g. playmate, something).
Year Five
Working on: spelling unstressed vowels in polysyllabic words.
Working on: spelling words with common letter strings and different
pronunciations
Working on: exploring the spelling patterns of consonants and using this knowledge
to formulate rules.
Working on: exploring less common suffixes and prefixes
Working on: investigating and learning spelling rules for adding suffixes to words
ending in –e and –y and words containing –ie
Working on: identifying word roots, derivations and spelling patterns as a support
for spelling
Learning continues to depend on assimilating concepts of orthography, and on
pupils’ capacity to associate spelling patterns with speech patterns. Pupils will use
analogue strategies: new words can be learnt because they are associated in the
child’s memory with similarly-patterned words.
Year Six

Orthographic – how do you write it?

Phonological – what does it sound like?

Morphological – what does it mean?

Etymological – what are its roots?
Working on: embedding the use of independent spelling strategies for spelling
unfamiliar words
Working on: investigating the meaning and spelling of connectives
Working on: revising and extending work on spelling patterns for unstressed vowels
and consonants in polysyllabic words.
Working on: using prefixes and suffixes to transform words
Working on: spelling unfamiliar words by using what is known of spelling patterns
and word families.
Working on: revising and using word roots, prefixes and suffixes as a support for
spelling
It helps to remember that learning to spell is both conceptual and associative.
Children need to learn increasingly difficult concepts about language structure and
letter sequence, and they do so through association and repeated systematic
practice.
Following the White Paper:
Ofsted will enhance its inspectors’ expertise in assessing the teaching of reading, so that their judgements
reflect appropriate expectations and recognise particular features of systematic synthetic phonics teaching.’
On the updated DFE website:
Programmes for phonic work should meet each of the following criteria. Further explanatory
notes are offered below.
The programme should:

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


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present high quality systematic, synthetic phonic work as the prime approach to
decoding print, i.e. a phonics ‘first and fast’ approach (see note 1)
enable children to start learning phonic knowledge and skills using a systematic,
synthetic programme by the age of five, with the expectation that they will be fluent
readers having secured word recognition skills by the end of key stage one (see note
2)
Children know letter names for upper and lower case letters by the time they are 5.
be designed for the teaching of discrete, daily sessions progressing from simple to
more complex phonic knowledge and skills and covering the major
grapheme/phoneme correspondences (see note 3)
enable children's progress to be assessed (see note 4)
use a multi-sensory approach so that children learn variously from simultaneous
visual, auditory and kinaesthetic activities which are designed to secure essential
phonic knowledge and skills (see note 5)
demonstrate that phonemes should be blended, in order, from left to right, 'all
through the word' for reading
demonstrate how words can be segmented into their constituent phonemes for
spelling and that this is the reverse of blending phonemes to read words
ensure children apply phonic knowledge and skills as their first approach to reading
and spelling even if a word is not completely phonically regular
ensure that children are taught high frequency words that do not conform completely
to grapheme/phoneme correspondence rules
provide fidelity to the teaching framework for the duration of the programme, to
ensure that these irregular words are fully learnt (see note 6)
ensure that as pupils move through the early stages of acquiring phonics, they are
invited to practise by reading texts which are entirely decodable for them, so that they
experience success and learn to rely on phonemic strategies. (see note 7)
Explanatory Notes
1. Phonic work is best understood as a body of knowledge and skills about how the alphabet
works, rather than one of a range of optional 'methods' or 'strategies' for teaching children
how to read. For example, phonic programmes should not encourage children to guess
words from non-phonic clues such as pictures before applying phonic knowledge and skills.
High quality systematic, synthetic phonic work will make sure that children learn:


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grapheme/phoneme (letter/sound) correspondences ( the alphabetic principle) in a
clearly defined, incremental sequence;
to apply the highly important skill of blending (synthesising) phonemes, in order, all
through a word to read it;
to apply the skills of segmenting words into their constituent phonemes to spell; and
that
blending and segmenting are reversible processes.
2. Teachers will make principled, professional judgements about when to start on a
systematic, synthetic programme of phonic work but it is reasonable to expect that the great
majority of children will be capable of, and benefit from doing so by the age of five. It is
equally important for the programme to be designed so that children become fluent readers
having secured word recognition skills by the end of key stage one.
3. The programme should introduce a defined initial group of consonants and vowels,
enabling children, early on, to read and spell many simple CVC words.
4. If the programme is high quality, systematic and synthetic it will, by design, map
incremental progression in phonic knowledge and skills. It should therefore enable teachers
to: track children's progress; assess for further learning and identify incipient difficulties, so
that appropriate support can be provided.
5. Multi-sensory activities should be interesting and engaging but firmly focused on
intensifying the learning associated with its phonic goal. They should avoid taking children
down a circuitous route only tenuously linked to the goal. This means avoiding overelaborate activities that are difficult to manage and take too long to complete, thus distracting
the children from concentrating on the learning goal.
6. The programme should not neglect engaging and helpful approaches to the more
challenging levels where children have to distinguish between phonically irregular
graphemes and phonemes.
7. It is important that texts are of the appropriate level for children to apply and practise the
phonic knowledge and skills that they have learnt. Children should not be expected to use
strategies such as whole-word recognition and/or cues from context, grammar, or pictures.
Assessment
and Tracking
To use the Letters and Sounds tracking sheet to record achievement against each
phase. Electronic record to be kept with BRAG sheets.