Letters and Sounds
 Structured programme
 Six phases
 Fast pace, lots of consolidation
 Blending for reading
 Segmenting for writing
 Tricky words and high frequency
words
Six phase teaching programme
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Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 5
Phase 6
- Nursery/Reception
- Reception
- Reception
- Reception
- Year 1
- Year 2
Children progress through these stages at their own pace – some take
longer to get there! This is a continual process from Foundation through
Key Stage 1 and beyond.
Phase 1: Exploring sounds
sounds that are found
Phonics Terminology
Phonemes: The sounds that are found within a word
Grapheme: The way we write down a sound
Digraph: Two letters that make one sound
Trigraph: Three letters that make one sound
Blending: Seeing a word and merging the phonemes together
to read the word
Segmenting: Chopping up a word into separate phonemes to spell it
out
Tricky words: Words that cannot be decoded.
Spelling: Writing words using the correct letters in the right
order to be read by others.
Phase 2: Exploring letters and
corresponding sounds within a
word
19 phonemes are taught
Blend phonemes and segment words
Read and spell ‘vc’ and ‘cvc’ words
Tricky words
Phonemes covered in phase 2
s a t p
i n m d
g o c k
 ck e u r
 h b f,ff l,ll ss
Blending and segmenting in
phase 2
Tricky words
Tricky words are words that do not follow
the phonic rules and cannot be blended
(read) or segmented (spelt) phonetically.
Children just have to learn to read and
spell them automatically.
Spot the words in books and
in the environment.
Wiggle fingers when you
hear the word.
Matching pairs game
Daily practise
Phase 3: Exploring letters
25 more phonemes are taught
(most are digraphs i.e two letters which make one sound –
sh, th, ng)
Blending and segmenting CVC words,
captions and sentences
Letter names – alphabet song
Read new tricky words and spell
old ones
Phonemes covered in phase 3
Letters
j,v,w,x
y,z,zz qu
Digraphs
ch, sh, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo
ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er
Blending and segmenting in
phase 3
Phase 4: Consolidating knowledge
• Adjacent consonants introduced
• Cvcc words – ten-t mil-k jum-p
• Ccvc words – d-rum p-lop s-poon
• Ccvcc words – pl-a-nk
• Further tricky words introduced
eg said, have, like, so.
• Along with decodable words such as:
went, from, just.
Phase 5 – Alternatives
 In phases 2 and 3 the children learn one version of
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each of the sounds in the English language (One
grapheme for each phoneme).
In phase 5 they learn that these sounds can actually
be spelt in lots of different ways e.g. ee can be ee, ea,
ey, y or e-e. These are called alternative spellings.
They also learn that graphemes can be pronounced in
different ways e.g. a is pronounced differently in hat,
acorn, father and wash. These are called alternative
pronunciations.
New Graphemes for reading. Eg: ay, ou, ie, ea, oy, ue,
ir, aw, wh, ph, ew, oe, au, ey,
Split digraphs a-e, e-e, i-e o-e u-e.
Choosing the right grapheme
Once children have learned all of the new
graphemes they begin to think about which to use
in which words. Children explore familiar words
and sort them into groups.
play
day
bake
game
pain
train
They will then look for rules to help remember
when to use each grapheme.
Split digraphs
This is a new kind of digraph introduced in phase 5.
spine
lake
bone
tune
High Frequency Words
 High frequency words are the words that children
encounter most in their independent reading.
 They need to build up a sight vocabulary of these
words.
 This will significantly help the fluency of their
reading.
How do the children learn
phonics in school?
Children will have a four part lesson each day, lasting
about twenty minutes.
 They will practise what they have already learned
 They will work on new learning
 They will practise their new learning individually, with
a partner or group and as a whole class.
 They will apply their learning in an activity.
Children will learn together as a whole class, and will
also have opportunities to revisit and practise earlier
learning, as and when they need to.
Phonics Screening Check
 Children will be tested in the summer term.
 Parents will be informed of the date nearer
the time.
 The check requires children to be able to use
all of the sounds learnt up to Phase 5.
 The check uses real and pseudo words to
assess children's ability to decode.
How can you support your child
at home?
Phonic packs
• Phoneme flashcards
• Words with sound buttons to blend
• Real and nonsense words to sort
• Matching pictures and words –
blending and segmenting
• Sound mat
• Tricky word mat
Thank you for coming
Remember phonics, reading and spelling
at home should…
... be done little and often.
… be fun.
… link to your child’s interests.