Synthetic Phonics Teaching Scheme
Phonics Shed is split into four chapters, which are based on the Letters and Sounds (2007) progression. The Long-Term Plan (LTP) for the scheme covers Nursery to Year 2 and is based on an average 39-week school year; this can be found below.
Chapter 1 is designed to run from the spring term of Nursery to the end of the year. We have also included a week of planning at the beginning of Reception that will either serve as a Chapter 1 recap or as a short introduction for those who start at your setting at the beginning of Reception.
Chapter 2 starts in the autumn term of Reception and will be completed by the spring term.
Chapter 3 is taught in the spring and summer terms of Reception.
Chapter 4a should be covered in the autumn term of Year 1.
Chapter 4b will then be taught up until the end of the spring term in Year 1.
Chapter 4c is usually introduced after the Phonics Screening Check and may run until the end of the autumn term in Year 2.
A further break down of the teaching progression from Nursery to Year 2, in the form of four Medium Term Plans (MTPs) based on six 6-week half-terms, can be found below the information about each chapter. Very few half-terms are, in fact, exactly six weeks long, but the progression is linear, and therefore it is simple to move different sets into different half-terms if they are longer or shorter.
Chapter 1
Focuses on developing vital pre-reading, speaking and listening skills. It is divided into a two week introduction and nine interlinking elements, each with two weeks’ worth of planning and supporting intervention sessions available. Much of the planning is supported by age-appropriate texts by well-known authors. Designed for Nursery and/or Early Reception (P1). PLANNING SAMPLE BOOK LIST
- Introduction- Joe: An Introduction to Phonics Shed
- Element 1- Environmental Sounds
- Element 2- Motor Skills
- Element 3- Our Bodies
- Element 4- Instrumental Sounds
- Element 5- Our Voices
- Element 6- Stories Rhymes and Rhythm
- Element 7- From Left to Right
- Element 8- Initial Sounds
- Element 9- Beginning to Blend and Segment
Chapter 2
Introduces the first grapheme-phoneme pairs, including introducing the 26 letters of the alphabet and their corresponding capital letters, and several simple digraphs, including an extended range of double letters. It also begins to introduce the concept of best fit; making an informed choice between alternative GPCs based on the most common placement in words. This chapter is designed for Reception/P1. PLANNING SAMPLE CONSOLIDATION
An example of intervention planning can also be seen for this chapter INTERVENTION SAMPLE
- Set 1 – 's'/s/, 'a'/a/, 't'/t/, 'p'/p/:Sam the snake [unvoiced s], Anna the ant, Tom the tiger and Pat the pig
- Set 2 – 'i'/i/, 'n'/n/, 'm'/m/, 'd'/d/:Indy the imp, Noah the nurse, Monty the monkey and Dusty the dog
- Set 3 – 'g'/g/, 'o'/o/, 'c'/k/, 'k'/k/:Grey the goat, Ollie the otter, Curly the cat and Kit the kangaroo [including 2 variants of k]
- Set 4 – 'ck'/k/, 'e'/e/, 'u'/u/, 'r'/r/:Buck the duck [first digraph and both variants of k], Ellis the echidna, Ugbie the bug and Rex the rat, /u/ 'Both hard and soft /u/ sounds are covered in this Set if appropriate to specific regional accents.'
- Set 5 – 'h'/h/, 'b'/b/, 'f'/f/, 'l'/l/:Haz the hen, Bumble the bee, Flick the fly and Lily the ladybird
- Set 6 – 'j'/j/, 'v'/v/, 'w'/w/, 'x'/ks/:Jack the jungle explorer, Val the vet, Wes the weasel and Alex the fox
- Set 7 – 'y'/y/, 'z'/z/, 'qu'/kw/, voiced 's'/z/:Yan the yoga teacher, Eliza the zebra, Quinn the quail and revisiting Sam the snake
- Set 8 – Double Letters 'ff'/f', 'll'/l/, 'ss'/s/, 'zz'/z/:Muffin the puffin, Billy the bull, Jess the grasshopper [including voiced ss] and Fizz the buzzard
- Set 8 continued – Additional Doubles 'tt'/t/, 'pp'/p/, 'rr'/r/, 'mm'/m/, 'cc'/c, 'nn'/n, 'dd'/d/, 'gg'/g/, 'bb'/b/:Lottie the bottle, Pepper the hippo, Barry the parrot, Jimmy the hammer, Rebecca the broccoli, Bonny the bunny, Eddy the ladder, Peggy the egg and Robby the gibbon
Chapter 3
Progresses to more complex digraphs and trigraphs, and introduces more best-fit rules as children begin to spell longer words and captions. Using the formation characters from Chapter 2, by the end of Chapter 3 the children will know at least one grapheme for each phoneme. This chapter is designed to be taught in Reception/P1. PLANNING SAMPLE
- Set 1 – 'ng'/ng/, 'ch'/ch/, 'sh'/sh/, 'th'/th/ [voiced and unvoiced]:Wing the duckling, Charlie the chicken, Blush the brush, Theo the moth and The Weatherman [including a comparison between th sounds]
- Set 2 – 'ai'/ai/, 'ee'/ee/, 'igh'/igh/, 'oa'/oa/:Gail the snail, Dee the sheep, Bright the night light and Boaty the toad
- Set 3 – 'ue'/ue/, 'ow'/ow/, 'oi'/oi/, 'oo'/oo/ and 'oo'hard/u/:Huey the statue, Brown the owl, The coin in the soil, Boo the goose and Sherwood the woodpecker [including regional variation]
- Set 4 – 'ar'/ar/, 'or'/or/, 'ur'/ur/, 'er'/ur/ and 'er'[schwa ending]:Archer the star, Gordon the horse, Kurt the turtle, Merlin the gerbil, Ryder the spider [including comparisons between ur, er and er]
- Set 5 – 'ear'/ear/, 'air'/air/, 'ure'[various], 'a'/ar/:Ears the earwig, Blair the fairy, The Treasure Adventure [including various pronunciations] and Alana the Llama [can be taught with Chapter 2 Set 7 if it is a commonly used GPC]
Chapter 4a
Chapter 4a covers alternative graphemes for known phonemes. This chapter is designed to be taught in Year 1/P2. PLANNING SAMPLE
- Set 1 – 'oe'/oa/, 'ay'/ai/, 'ew'/oo/, 'ew'/ue/:Joe stubbed his toe, Jay the clay, Drew the screwdriver and Stewart the newt [including comparing ew sounds]
- Set 2 – 'ea'/ee/, 'ey'/ee/, 'ie'/ee/, 'ie'/igh/:Beans the flea, Stanley the turkey, Albie the cookie thief and The Magpie [including comparing ie sounds]
- Set 3 – 'aw'/or/, 'au'/or/, 'ir'/ur/, 'oy'/oi/: Dawn the fawn, Paul the astronaut, Shirley the girl and Troy the boy
- Set 4 – 'ou'/ow/, 'are'/air/, 'ph'/f/, 'wh'/w/: Sprout the mouse, Dare the hare, Phil the dolphin and Wheeler the whale.
- Set 5 – Split Digraphs 'a_e'/ai/, 'e_e'/ee/, 'i_e'/igh/, 'o_e'/oa/, 'u_e'/oo/, 'u_e'/ue/:Jade the spade, Pete the millipede, Mike the kite, Hope the cone, Luke the flute and Duke the mule [including comparing u_e sounds]
Chapter 4b
Chapter 4b covers alternative pronunciations for known graphemes. These characters only have songs if the GPCs tend to follow specific best-fit rules. By the end of this chapter, all the GPCs required for the Phonics Screening Check will have been covered. This chapter is designed to be taught in Year 1/P2. PLANNING SAMPLE
- Set 1 – Recap of previously compared sounds: th ew oo u_e etc
- Set 2 – 'c'/s/, 'g'/j/, 'i'/igh/, 'u'/ue/, 'e'/ee/:Nancy the princess, Gem the giraffe, Ivor the lion, Music the unicorn and The Meteor
- Set 3 – 'ea'/e/, 'ow'/oa/, 'or'/ur/, 'ey'/ai/:Heather the feather, Rainbow the snowman, Wordy the bookworm and Chey the grey squirrel
- Set 4 – 'ue'/oo/, 'o'/oa/, 'o'/oo/, 'ch'/c/, 'ch'/sh/:Sue the bluebird, Leo the ghost, Who?, Chris the chameleon and Charlotte the chef
- Set 5 – 'a'/ai/, 'a'/o/, 'y'/igh/, 'y'/ee/, 'y'/i/:April the angel, Squashy the wasp, Sky the spy, Cody the jellyfish and Dylan the lynx
- Set 6 – 'ou'/oo/, 'ou'/u/, 'ou'/oa/, 'ear'/ur/, 'ear'/air/:Soupy the toucan, Doug in trouble, Mouldy the boulder, The Earl and Pear the bear
- Set 7 – New Phoneme 'zh' [si, ge, s, g, j, z, ti]
Chapter 4c
Chapter 4c looks at spelling patterns, best-fit rules, and less common GPCs. This chapter is designed to be taught after the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1 and into Year 2 (P3). It is also a useful tool for consolidating knowledge of specific phonemes beyond these year groups. PLANNING SAMPLE
Chapter 4c
A wide range of possible graphemes for each phoneme, both common and uncommon, along with spelling patterns and best-fit rules. This chapter is split into 5 sections: Consonants, Consonant Digraphs, Short Vowels, Long Vowels and Vowel Digraphs and Trigraphs. There are a total of 80 lessons that cover every phoneme apart from the /th/ sounds, which have no common alternatives.
Long Term Plan
Long Term Plan (based on 39 week average school year)
| Aims for the year | Half Term | Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |||||
| Events | September Starters | January Starters | April Starters | |||||||||
Nursery | Chapter 1 complete | Content | Settling in with no formal phonics (we suggest using our Phonics Shed books and songs during carpet time, as well as Chapter 1 games on the Phonics Shed site) | CHAPTER 1 (including introduction and consolidation weeks) | ||||||||
Reception | Brief Introduction and Chapter 1 Element 9 Recap Chapter 2 and 3 complete | |||||||||||
| Content | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | ||||||||||
Year 1 | Chapter 4a & 4b complete Scheme up to Chapter 4b complete and secure before Phonics screening | Events | ||||||||||
| Content | CHAPTER 4a | CHAPTER 4b | Chapter 2 to 4b Consolidation and Targeted Interventions | Phonics Screening | Begin CHAPTER 4c | |||||||
Year 2 | Chapter 4c complete | Events | SATs | |||||||||
| Content | Continue CHAPTER 4c (total 80 lessons) | Whole Scheme Consolidation and Targeted Interventions | ||||||||||
Medium Term Plans
Nursery Medium Term Plan - (based on 6 week half-terms)
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
| Settling in with no formal phonics. We suggest using our Phonics Shed books and songs during carpet time, as well as Chapter 1 games on the Phonics Shed site. | Chapter 1 Element 2 Motor Skills (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 5 Our Voices (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 8 Initial Sounds (2 weeks) | ||
| Chapter 1 Introduction Intro to Phonics Shed (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 3 Our Bodies (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 6 Stories, Rhymes and Rhythm (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 9 Beginning to Blend and Segment (2 weeks) | ||
| Chapter 1 Element 1 Environmental Sounds (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 4 Instrumental Sounds (2 weeks) | Chapter 1 Element 7 From Left to Right (2 weeks) | Assessment Weeks (2 weeks) | ||
Reception Medium Term Plan - (based on 6 week half-terms)
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction Intro to Phonics Shed (1 weeks) | Assessment Week | Assessment Week | Assessment Week | Chapter 3 Set 1 /ng/, /ch/, /sh/, unvoiced /th/, voiced /th/ and comparing /th/ sounds, HFWs: 'children', 'they', 'then', 'them', 'this', 'that', 'with' (1 week) | Chapter 3 Set 4 /ar/, /or/, /ur/, 'er'/ur/, comparing /ur/ sounds, schwa 'er' ending, comparing 'er' sounds, HFWs: 'are', 'for', 'all', 'her' (1 week) |
| Chapter 2 Set 1 /s/, /a/, /t/, /p/ and corresponding capital letters, HFWs: 'a', 'at',' the' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Consolidation and Interventions (1 week) | Chapter 2 Consolidation and Interventions (1 week) | Chapter 2 Consolidation and Interventions (2 weeks) | Chapter 3 Set 2 /ai/, /ee/, /igh/ and /oa/, HFWs: 'see', 'he', 'she', 'we', 'me', 'be', 'my' (1 week) | Chapter 3 Set 5 /ear/, /air/, 'ure' variations and 'a'/ar/, HFWs:said, little, can't (1 week) |
| Chapter 2 Set 2 /i/, /n/, /m/, /d/ and corresponding capital letters, HFWs:'I', 'it', 'it's', 'an', 'in', 'and', 'dad' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Set 5 /h/, /b/, /f/, /l/ and corresponding capital letters, HFWs:'had', 'him', 'back', 'big', 'but', 'if', 'from',' of', 'help' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Set 8 Double Letters 'ff'/f/, 'll'/l/, 'ss'/s/, voiced 'ss'/z/ and 'zz'/z/, HFWs: 'off', 'will' (1 week) | Chapter 3 Set 3 ue'/you/, /ow/, /oi/, /oo/, 'oo' hard/u/ and comparing 'oo' sounds, HFWs:'was', 'you', 'now', 'down', 'too', 'look' (1 week) | Chapter 3 Set 4-5 Recap | |
| Chapter 2 Set 3 /g/, /o/, 'c'/k/, 'k'/k/, comparing /k/ sounds, and corresponding capital letters, HFWs:'on', 'got', 'not', 'do', 'to', 'into', 'can' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Set 6 /j/, /v/, /w/, 'x'/ks/ and corresponding capital letters, HFWs:'just', 'went', 'want' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Set 8 Additional Double Letters 'tt'/t/, 'pp'/p/, 'rr'/r/, 'mm'/m/, 'cc'/k/, 'nn'/n/, 'dd'/d/, 'gg'/g/ and 'bb'/b/ (2 weeks) | Chapter 2 Alphabet Order (1 week) | Chapter 3 Set 1-3 Recap | Assessment Week |
| Chapter 2 Set 4 'ck'/k/, comparing /k/ sounds, /e/, /u/, /r/ and corresponding capital letters, HFWs: 'no', 'go', 'so', 'get', 'up', 'put', 'mum' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Set 7 /y/, /z/, 'qu'/kw/, corresponding capital letters and voiced 's'/z/, HFWs: 'as', 'is', 'his' (1 week) | Chapter 2 Vowels and Consonants (1 week) | Assessment Week | ||
| Chapter 3 Consolidation and Interventions (2 week) | |||||
| Chapter 2 Set 1 to 4 Recap | Chapter 2 Set 5 to 7 Recap | Chapter 2 Recap (Whole Chapter) | Assessment Week | Chapter 3 Consolidation and Interventions (1 week) | Chapter 2 and 3 Recap (1 week) |
Year 1 Medium Term Plan - (based on 6 week half-terms)
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
| Assessment Week and Targeted Interventions | Recap Chapter 4a Set 1 - 4 | Chapter 4b Set 2 'c'/s/, 'g'/j/, 'i'/igh/, 'u'/ue/ and 'e'/ee/, HFWs: I'm (1 week) | Chapter 4b Set 7 New Phoneme /zh/, HFWs: 'their', 'people' (1 week) | Chapter 2 to 4b Consolidation and Targeted Interventions (see guidance) | Phonics Screening Practice using, blending and segmenting resources, word cards and online resources |
| Additional Consolidation of Chapter 2 and 3 (1 week) | Chapter 4a Set 5 Split Digraphs 'a_e'/ai/, 'e_e'/ee/, 'i_e'/igh/, 'o_e'/oa/, 'u_e'/oo/, 'u_e'/ue/ and comparing 'u_e' sounds. HFWs: made, came, make, have, here, were, there, like, time, come, one, some (2 weeks) | Chapter 4b Set 3 'ea'/e/, 'ow'/oa/, 'or'/ur/ and 'ey'/ai/, HFWs: Mr, Mrs (1 week) | Assessment Week | Phonics Screening | |
| Chapter 4a Set 1 'oe'/oa/, 'ay'/ai/, 'ew'/oo/, 'ew'/ue/ and comparing 'ew' sounds, HFWs: day (1 week) | Chapter 4b Set 4 'ue'/oo/, 'o'/oa/, 'o'/oo/, 'ch'/k/ and 'ch'/sh/, HFWs: old, don't, oh (1 week) | Chapter 4b Consolidation and Interventions (2 week) | Chapter 4c Consonants /p/, /h/, /y/, /b/, /l/, /v/, /d/, /r/, /f/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /j/, /z/, /s/, /k/, /w/, ‘qu’ and ‘x’, HFWs: 'I’ve', 'live', 'lived', 'we’re', 'gone', 'know', 'jumped', 'stopped', 'pulled', 'please', 'mouse', 'horse', 'once' (6 weeks in total) | ||
| Chapter 4a Set 2 'ea'/ee/, 'ey'/ee/, 'ie'/ee/, 'ie'/igh/ and comparing 'ie' sounds (1 week) | Assessment Week | Chapter 4b Set 5 'a'/ai/, 'a'/o/, 'y'/igh/, 'y'/ee/ and 'y'/i/, HFWs: looked, called, asked, by, very (1 week) | |||
| Chapter 4a Set 3 'aw'/or/, 'au'/or/, 'ir'/ur/ and 'oy'/oi/, HFWs: saw (1 week) | Chapter 4a Consolidation and Interventions (1 week) | Chapter 4b Set 6 'ou'/oo/, 'ou' hard /u/, 'ou'/oo/, 'ear'/ur/ and 'ear'/air/, HFWs: 'your', 'could' (1 week) | Whole Scheme Assessment and Targeted Interventions (2 weeks) | ||
| Chapter 4a Set 4 'ou'/ow/, 'are'/air/, 'ph'/f/ and 'wh'/w/, HFWs: house, out, about, when, what (1 week) | Chapter 4b Set 1 Recap comparing multiple known phonemes for 's', 'th', 'oo', 'er', 'a', 'ew', 'ie' and 'u_e' graphemes (1 week) | Recap Chapter 4b Set 2-6 |
Year 2 Medium Term Plan - (based on 6 week half-terms)
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
| Chapter 4c Consonants /p/, /h/, /y/, /b/, /l/, /v/, /d/, /r/, /f/, /g/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /j/, /z/, /s/, /k/, /w/, ‘qu’ and ‘x’, HFWs: 'I’ve', 'live', 'lived', 'we’re', 'gone', 'know', 'jumped', 'stopped', 'pulled', 'please', 'mouse', 'horse', 'once' (6 weeks in total) | Chapter 4c Long Vowels /ai/, /ee/, /igh/, /oa/, /ue/(/y//oo/) and /oo/, HFWs: great, eyes, two, through (3 weeks) | Assessment Week | |||
| Chapter 4c Consolidation and Interventions (2 weeks) | |||||
| Chapter 4c Consonant Digraphs /nz/, /zh/, /ch/ and /sh/ (1.5 weeks) | Chapter 4c Vowel Digraphs/Trigraphs /oi/, /ow/, /ar/, /or/, /ur/, /air/, /ear/, schwa endings and /ure/, HFWs:water, thought, more, door, small, where, really (3 weeks) | Whole Scheme Assessment Week | |||
| Chapter 4c Short Vowels /a/, /o/, /e/, /i/ and hard and soft /u/ [regional], HFWs: because, friends, many, any, other, another, mother, coming (2 weeks) | Whole Scheme Consolidation and Targeted Interventions |
