Communication, language and literacy Development (CLLD)

CLLD: Letters and Sounds

See how this phonics programme helps children become fluent readers during Early Years and Key Stage 1. Read how it focuses on high-quality phonics (using segmentation and blending) and the simple view of reading.

• Letters and Sounds

  See how this phonics programme helps children become fluent readers with some spelling ability during Early Years and Key Stage 1. Read how it focuses on high quality phonics (using segmentation and blending) and the simple view of reading. This is part of the Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD).

  • Principles

  • Teaching approaches

  • Teaching materials

• Phase one

  Phase one of Letters and Sounds concentrate on developing children's speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending and segmenting. The activities are designed to underpin and run alongside activities in other phases.

  • Aspect 2: Instrumental sounds

  • Aspect 3: Body percussion

  • Aspect 4: Rhythm and rhyme

  • Aspect 5: Alliteration

  • Aspect 6: Voice sounds

  • Aspect 7: Oral blending and segmenting

• Phase two

  Early Years practitioners can find out that this phase covers reading, writing and speaking of words using blending and segmentation, which includes high-frequency and irregular words. They can also link to suggested teaching sequences, timetables, letter sets and captions. It is part of Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD).

  • Development expectations

  • Teaching approaches

  • Activities

• Phase four

  In this phase, Early Years practitioners can help children learn to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants. Children are also introduced to polysyllabic words. This is part of Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD).

  • Development expectations

  • Approaches

  • Suggested daily teaching

  • Suggested timetable

  • Activities

• Phase five

  In this phase, Early Years practitioners can help to broaden children’s knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling. Children are introduced to new graphemes, begin to explore different pronunciations and are encouraged to read words in favour of sound-talking and blending. This is part of Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD).

  • Development expectations

  • Teaching approaches

  • Suggested daily teaching

  • Suggested timetable

  • Activities

• Phase six

  In this phase, Early Years practitioners can help children move towards becoming fluent readers and increasingly accurate spellers. The shift from learning to read to reading to learn takes place here. This is part of Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD).

• Phonics intervention at Key Stage 2

  Some children at Key Stage 2 experience difficulty in reading and/or writing because they have missed or misunderstood a crucial phase of systematic phonics teaching. This is designed to help teachers and suitably trained teaching assistants (TAs) support children who may have poorly developed phonic knowledge, skills and understanding. The ultimate aim is to help children to become fluent, confident readers and writers as soon as possible. Common difficulties In their day-to-day learning some children may:

  • CLLD Phonics

  • How Phonics intervention is organised

  • How to use Phonics intervention

  • Unit 2

  • Unit 3

  • Unit 4

  • Unit 5

• Letters and Sounds: Word lists

  This document lists high-frequency words, shows letter formation and provides assessment statements for what children should be able to do at the end of each Letters and Sounds phase, along with quick assessment tasks and record sheets.

• Letters and Sounds: A guide for parents and carers of children in Early Years settings

  This document will give parents and carers further information about the Letters and Sounds programme and the best ways to support their child’s learning at home. The information can be personalised by the setting or school prior to it being shared with parents and carers.

• Letters and Sounds: Phonics information for parents and carers with children in Reception classes

  This document will give parents and carers further information about the Letters and Sounds programme and the best ways to support their child’s learning at home. This information can be personalised by the Early Years setting or school prior to it being shared with parents and carers.

• Letters and Sounds: Phonic progress tracking sheet

  You can use this blank document to track pupils' progress in learning phonics. It spans the Early Years, Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and therefore the information should be transferred as children move between year groups.

• Letters and Sounds: Headteacher launch presentation

  This presentation will provide headteachers with information on Letters and Sounds to enable them to make an informed decision about which phonic programme best suits their needs and local contexts. It can also be used for individual study or to support collaborative continuing professional development (CPD) involving groups of teachers or schools.

• Letters and Sounds: Phase 1 training pack

  This presentation is for local authority teams supporting teachers and practitioners working with children at phase one of Letters and Sounds. Local authority consultants and advisers can use this as a resource to inform the development of the continuing professional development (CPD) programme.