FOR PARENTS · RECEPTION TO YEAR 2
Phonics at home: what your school's phases, colours and sounds mean
Schools choose their own phonics programme and each names its stages differently, so a “phase” in one school and a “colour” in another are not one shared scale. Ask which programme yours uses.
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The quickest way to make sense of your child's phonics is to ask the school one question: which programme do you use? This guide explains the words you'll meet, how different programmes name their stages, why early reading books look so easy, and how to help at home without getting ahead of school.
By the Litsee team · Last reviewed · About this guide
The short answer: ask which programme, then follow its order
In England, the national curriculum says children in Year 1 should “apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words” (DfE national curriculum). How a school teaches that is its choice. The DfE keeps a list of validated phonics programmes, but says: “There is no statutory requirement for schools to choose one of the SSP programmes on the validated list.” (DfE).
What the DfE does expect is consistency: “What’s important is that schools take an approach that is rigorous, systematic and used with fidelity”. That's why the best help at home follows the school's programme rather than a different one.
Phonics words decoded
Tap a word for a plain explanation. Where the national curriculum glossary defines it, the explanation uses its words (DfE English glossary).
“Phoneme” Curriculum glossary
“the smallest unit of sound that signals a distinct, contrasting meaning”. The word cat has three phonemes.
“Grapheme” Curriculum glossary
“A letter, or combination of letters, that corresponds to a single phoneme within a word.” The ph in dolphin is one grapheme.
“Digraph” Curriculum glossary
“A type of grapheme where two letters represent one phoneme”, like sh in shed.
“Trigraph” Curriculum glossary
“A type of grapheme where three letters represent one phoneme”, like igh in high.
“Split digraph” Curriculum glossary
Two letters for one sound with a letter between them, like i–e in line.
“GPC” Curriculum glossary
Short for grapheme-phoneme correspondence: the link between a letter or letters and the sound they stand for.
“Blending” Plain English
Saying each sound in a word, then running them together to hear the word: c-a-t, cat.
“Tricky words” Plain English
Common words with an unusual spelling, such as you, could or people. The curriculum calls them common exception words.
“Alien words” Plain English
Made-up words, like those in the Year 1 phonics check, used to check a child is decoding rather than remembering.
“Decodable book” Plain English
A book that only uses the sounds your child has been taught so far, so they can work out every word.
Your school's programme: phases, colours and levels
Schools use different programmes, so the same point in learning to read can have different names. Here is what three you'll often hear about call their stages, taken from their own parent material.
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised
Phases. Its parent page lists Phase 2 sounds for the Reception autumn term and Phase 3 sounds from Reception spring term, with separate guides for Year 1. (source)
Read Write Inc. Phonics
Coloured book levels, in this order: Red Ditty, Green, Purple, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Grey. These are not the same as book band colours. (source)
Letters and Sounds (2007)
Numbered phases. No longer on the DfE's list of validated programmes since 2021, though the document is still online and some schools still use its phase names. (source)
Any other programme
Each validated programme has its own names and order. Ask the school which one it uses, then look for that programme's own parent guide. (source)
On Letters and Sounds, the DfE's reading framework explains that “in 2021, the government decided to remove it from its list of” validated full phonics programmes, because schools had to build a full programme around it (DfE reading framework). The 2007 document is still on GOV.UK.
Phonics colours aren't book band colours. Our book bands guide explains the difference.
Phase 1 to Phase 6: what the numbers mean
Phonics phases began with the 2007 Letters and Sounds document, and some programmes still use phase numbers. Here's what each phase was for, from the document's own summaries (Letters and Sounds). Programmes that use phases today may divide and time them differently, so ask the school.
- Phase 1: Listening, rhymes and songs, and saying sounds aloud: hearing that words are made of sounds, before letters.
- Phase 2: The first letters: the document's aim is “to teach at least 19 letters” and start blending them to read short words.
- Phase 3: Another 25 graphemes, “most of them comprising two letters (e.g. oa)”, plus letter names and more tricky words.
- Phase 4: No new sounds: reading and spelling words with adjacent consonants, like “frog” and “tent”, and longer words.
- Phase 5: Alternative spellings and pronunciations: the same sound written different ways, and the same letters said different ways.
- Phase 6: Fluent reading and spelling: past tenses, suffixes and long words. It notes that spelling “usually lags behind reading, as it is harder.”
What are decodable books? (The two books in the book bag)
A decodable book uses only the sounds and tricky words your child has been taught so far, so they can work out every word. The reading framework explains why they look so simple: “They do not encounter words that include GPCs they have not been taught. If an adult is not present, they are not forced to guess from pictures, the context, the first letters of a word or its shape” (DfE reading framework).
They're meant to feel easy. “‘Decodable’ books and texts that children read should run alongside or a little behind the teaching of the GPCs, so that they always feel a sense of achievement when they are asked to read such books.” And they're for daily practice: “Children read a decodable book or other decodable text most days.” Once a child has finished the school's phonics programme, the reading framework describes moving on to “post-‘decodable’” books that children read on their own.
Many schools send home two kinds of book. One is the decodable book, for your child to read to you. The other is a book for you to read aloud, with words your child can't read yet, for enjoying the story and talking about it. Both matter, and they do different jobs. If the decodable book feels far too easy, see our guide to a reading book that's too easy.
Helping at home in 10 minutes
- Read the decodable book most days. Let your child sound out each word and blend it. Wait before helping.
- Read it again tomorrow. Rereading makes it smoother and builds confidence, even if it feels too easy to you.
- Play with sounds in everyday talk. “Can you find your s-o-ck-s?” turns blending into a game.
- Don't race ahead. If your child is flying, ask the teacher before teaching new sounds. Stretch them with stories read aloud, rhymes and writing instead.
- Keep one story a day just for fun, with no sounding out and no questions.
Phonics at home: the 10-minute routine
- Read the decodable book: your child sounds out and blends.
- Praise the effort, not the speed.
- Reread yesterday's book for fluency.
- One sound game in everyday talk.
- A story read aloud by you, just for fun.
From litsee.com/guides/phonics-at-home
Saying the sounds the school's way
Programmes teach children to say each sound in a particular way, and they differ in small details. Little Wandle, for example, publishes a guide for parents to how sounds are said in each term of Reception and in Year 1 (Little Wandle). Ask for your school's version and use it: it saves your child having to switch between two ways of saying the same sound.
If your accent is different from your child's teacher's, that's fine. Say the sounds as the school shows them, and let your child hear you having a go too.
When blending stays hard for a long time
Some children take longer to blend, and summer-born children may simply be younger than their classmates. If blending is still hard after lots of practice, or your child is getting upset about reading, talk to the class teacher. Children who don't meet the standard in the Year 1 phonics check take it again in Year 2 (Standards and Testing Agency).
If you're worried it's more than practice, our guide to signs of reading difficulties explains how to raise it with school.
Questions parents ask
What phonics phase should my child be on in Year 1?
It depends on your child's school, because each phonics programme has its own stages and order, and not every programme uses phases. Ask the teacher which programme they use and where your child is in it, then use that programme's own parent guide.
How can I help my child with phonics at home?
Read the decodable book from school with them most days, let them sound out and blend each word, and reread it so it gets smoother. Use the sounds the way the school says them, and keep a second book just for you to read aloud for fun.
Why are my child's school reading books so easy?
Early reading books are usually decodable: they only use the sounds your child has been taught, so they can work out every word without guessing. Rereading an easy book builds speed and confidence. If it feels too easy for weeks, ask the teacher what they are listening for.
Should I teach my child phonics ahead of school?
Check with the teacher first. Schools are expected to follow their programme closely, so teaching sounds in a different order or a different way can confuse a child. Reading aloud to them, rhymes and word games all help without getting ahead of the programme.
Sources
- Choosing a phonics teaching programme (list of validated programmes) Department for Education, updated 16 February 2026, checked 3 November 2026
- The reading framework Department for Education, July 2023, updated 22 September 2023, checked 3 November 2026
- National curriculum in England: English glossary Department for Education, 2013, checked 3 November 2026
- National curriculum in England: English programmes of study (Year 1 word reading) Department for Education, September 2013, updated 16 July 2014, checked 3 November 2026
- Letters and sounds (2007) Department for Education and Skills, 1 April 2007, checked 3 November 2026
- Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised: resources for parents Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, undated, checked 3 November 2026
- Parent guide to Read Write Inc. Phonics Oxford Owl for Home (Oxford University Press), undated, checked 30 October 2026
- Phonics screening check: information for parents Standards and Testing Agency, updated 15 September 2025, checked 3 November 2026
About this guide
Written by the Litsee team and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page.
We describe each phonics programme only from its own parent material, and we don't rank them. Litsee is not connected with, or endorsed by, Little Wandle, Read Write Inc., Oxford University Press or any programme named here. Sound recordings will be added only once they have been checked by a phonics specialist.
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Email info@litsee.com and we will fix it. Last reviewed: .
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