Phase One

Phase One of the Letters and Sounds scheme of learning for Phonics in England focuses on developing children's listening skills and their ability to discriminate sounds. It is designed to be the initial phase before children begin to learn the sounds of individual letters. During Phase One, children engage in a range of activities to enhance their auditory perception, including listening to environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, and rhythm and rhyme. They also practice oral blending and segmenting of sounds. This phase is crucial in preparing children for the subsequent phases of the Phonics program.

Phase Two

Phase Two introduces children to individual letter sounds. It focuses on teaching children to recognize and decode simple three-letter words. During this phase, children learn the sounds of the letters of the alphabet and begin blending them together to read words. They also learn to segment words into their individual sounds for spelling. Phase Two typically involves interactive activities, games, and resources to make learning engaging and fun. By the end of this phase, children should be able to read and write words using the letter sounds they have learned.

During Phase Two, children learn several important skills related to phonics and early reading. Here are the key skills children typically develop during this phase:

1. Letter Recognition: Children learn to recognise and name the letters of the alphabet. In Phase Two of the Letters and Sounds scheme, children learn the initial sounds of the alphabet. Here are the sounds that children typically learn during this phase:

Set 1: s, a, t, p | Set 2: i, n, m, d | Set 3: g, o, c, k | Set 4: ck, e, u, r | Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

These sounds are taught in a systematic and progressive manner, allowing children to build their phonics knowledge and skills. It is important to note that some sounds are introduced in pairs, such as 'ff' and 'll', to highlight certain sound patterns. By learning these initial sounds, children can begin to blend and segment sounds to read and write simple words. These foundational phonics skills are essential for their development as readers and writers.

2. Blending: Children practice blending individual letter sounds together to read simple three-letter words. For example, they learn to blend the sounds /c/, /a/, and /t/ to read the word "cat."

4. Segmenting: Children learn to break down words into their individual sounds. For example, they segment the word "hat" into the sounds /h/, /a/, and /t/ for spelling.

5. High-Frequency Words: Children begin to learn and recognise a set of high-frequency words that appear frequently in written texts. These words are often not phonetically regular and need to be memorized.

6. Oral Blending and Segmenting: Children practice orally blending and segmenting sounds in words, helping them develop their phonological awareness.

7. Reading and Writing: Children start reading and writing simple words using the letter sounds they have learned. They may use magnetic letters, letter cards, or other manipulatives to support their learning.

These skills provide a foundation for children to develop their reading and writing abilities as they progress through the different phases of the Letters and Sounds scheme.

Phase Three

In Phase Three, children continue to build on their phonics knowledge by learning more sounds and exploring digraphs and trigraphs. Here are the sounds and graphemes that children typically learn during this phase:

1. Set 6: j, v, w, x

2. Set 7: y, z, zz, qu

3. Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng

4. Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

During Phase Three, children also learn to blend and segment longer words with these new sounds and graphemes. They practice reading and spelling words with consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs, which helps to expand their reading and writing abilities. It's important to note that while the focus is on learning new sounds and graphemes, children also continue to revise and consolidate their knowledge of previously learned sounds and high-frequency words.

By the end of Phase Three, children should be able to read and spell words with a variety of digraphs and trigraphs, providing them with a solid foundation for further phonics development.

Phase 4

In Phase Four of the Letters and Sounds scheme, children focus on developing their skills in blending and segmenting longer words. They consolidate their knowledge of previously learned sounds and graphemes and apply them to read and spell more complex words. While Phase Four does not introduce new sounds and graphemes, it places a strong emphasis on blending and segmenting skills.

During Phase Four, children continue to practice reading and spelling words with consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, and trigraphs learned in Phase Three. They also work on blending and segmenting words with adjacent consonants and consonant clusters, such as "bl", "st", and "sp". Additionally, they learn to blend and segment words with initial and final clusters, such as "spl", "scr", and "str".

By the end of Phase Four, children should be able to confidently blend and segment longer words with a range of sounds and graphemes. This prepares them for more complex reading and writing tasks in later phases.

It's important to note that Phase Four also includes continued practice of high-frequency words and sentence reading. This helps children develop fluency and comprehension skills alongside their phonics knowledge.

Here are some of the consonant clusters that children learn in Phase Four:

1. Initial Consonant Clusters:

bl (as in "black") | br (as in "brown") | cl (as in "clap") | cr (as in "crab") | dr (as in "drum")
fl (as in "flag") | fr (as in "frog") | gl (as in "glue") | gr (as in "grass") | pl (as in "plant")  
pr (as in "pram") | sk (as in "skate") | sl (as in "slide") | sm (as in "smile") | sn (as in "snail")
sp (as in "spoon") | st (as in "star") | sw (as in "swim") | tr (as in "train")

2. Final Consonant Clusters:

ft (as in "left") | ld (as in "cold") | lf (as in "self") | lk (as in "milk") | lm (as in "elm") | lp (as in "help")
lt (as in "melt") | mp (as in "jump") | nd (as in "sand") | nk (as in "bank") | nt (as in "plant") | sk (as in "desk")
sp (as in "clasp") | st (as in "post") | pt (as in "kept")

By practicing blending and segmenting words with these consonant clusters, children develop their phonics skills and become more confident readers and spellers. Overall, Phase Four aims to further develop children's phonological awareness, blending and segmenting skills, and their ability to read and spell words with consonant clusters. It sets the foundation for more complex phonics concepts and prepares children for Phase Five of the Letters and Sounds scheme.

Phase Five

In Phase 5a, children learn several new digraphs (two letters that make one sound). Here are the digraphs taught in Phase 5a:

ay - as in "play" | ou - as in "cloud" | ie - as in "pie" | ea - as in "beach" | oy - as in "boy" | ir - as in "bird"
ue - as in "blue" | aw - as in "saw" | wh - as in "when" | ph - as in "phone" | ew - as in "new" | oe - as in "toe"
au - as in "author" | ey - as in "money" | a-e - as in "cake" | e-e - as in "theme" | i-e - as in "bike" | o-e - as in "home"
u-e - as in "rude"

These digraphs are introduced gradually, and children practice blending and segmenting words containing these sounds. They also learn to recognise and read words that contain these digraphs.

Children learn new graphemes (letter or group of letters that represent a sound) and alternative pronunciations for graphemes and then alternative spelling for the same sound. Here is what some schools call the 'alphabet code' and what others call 'sound or phoneme families': 

/ay/ family: "ai" (rain) | "ay" (day) | "a-e" (cake) | "eigh" (weight) | "ey" (grey) | "ea" (break) | "a" (acorn)

/ee/ family: "ee" (see) | "ea" (sea) | "e-e" (these) | "ie" (chief) | "y" (happy) | "ey" (money) | "eo" (people)

/igh/ family: "igh" (high) | "ie" (pie) | "i-e" (like) | "y" (sky) | "i" (kind)

/or/ family: "or" (fork) | "aw" (saw) | "au" (autumn) | "al" (talk) | "our" (pour) | "augh" (daughter)
"ore" (sore) | "oor" (door)

/air/ family: "air" (hair) | "ear" (pear) | "are" (care)

/ear/ family: "ear" (beard) | "ere" (sphere) | "eer" (deer)

/ou/ family:` "ou" (cloud) | "ow" (down) | "ough" (bough)

/oy/ family: "oy" (toy) | "oi" (coin)

/oa/ family: "oa" (boat) | "ow" (throw) | "oe" (toe) | "o-e" (bone) | "o" (no)

/oo/ family: "oo" (moon) | "ew" (chew) | "ue" (glue) | "ui" (fruit) | "ou" (soup) | "u-e" (flute)

/u/ family: "u" (put) | "oo" (cook) | "oul" (could) | "o" (woman)

/ur/ family: "ur" (burger) | "ir" (bird) | "er" (stern) | "ear" (search)

/yoo/ family: "ue" (argue) | "ew" (stew) | "u-e" (tube)

/e/ family: "e" (egg) | "ea" (head)

/sh/ family: "sh" (shop) | "ch" (chef) | "t" (station) | "ss" (tissue) | "s" (sugar) | "c" (suspicion)

These are some of the sounds and graphemes that children learn in Phase Five. There may be additional sounds and graphemes depending on the specific phonics program or curriculum being used.