The Sounds-Write program is a systematic phonics program designed to teach children how to read and spell effectively. It is based on the principles of linguistic phonics, which means that it focuses on teaching the sounds of the English language and how they relate to the letters and spelling patterns. The program is suitable for children of all ages and abilities, including those who are struggling with reading and spelling.

The Sounds-Write program consists of a series of lessons that are carefully structured and sequenced to build upon each other. The lessons focus on teaching the sounds of the English language in a logical and progressive way, with an emphasis on developing phonemic awareness and phonological processing skills. The program uses a multi-sensory approach, incorporating visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic elements to help children learn and retain information more effectively.

One of the key features of the Sounds-Write program is its emphasis on blending and segmenting. These skills are essential for decoding words and spelling them correctly, and the program provides plenty of practice opportunities to develop these skills. The program also includes regular assessment and progress monitoring to ensure that children are making progress and to identify areas where they may need additional support.

Overall, the Sounds-Write program is a highly effective phonics program that has been proven to help children of all ages and abilities to become confident and competent readers and spellers. Its systematic and structured approach, combined with its multi-sensory teaching methods, make it an ideal choice for schools, teachers, and parents who are looking for a reliable and evidence-based program to support children's literacy development.

The team at Sounds-Write have developed two free online courses for parents and carers. It teaches everything parents need to know to help their children make a start on their literacy journey.

If you would like to find out more about how we teach young children to read and write at Bethany Lutheran Primary School and would like to help your child to grow in confidence, then we recommend all parents of children in Prep and Year 1 complete the Sounds-Write Parents' course at the link here - SOUNDS-WRITE PARENTS' COURSE PART 1.

A second parent course for children at the end of Year 1 and those in Year 2 is available here - SOUNDS-WRITE PARENTS' COURSE PART 2 . The courses consist of a number of short videos to watch which give parents the knowledge they need to help their child develop into a confident reader and writer.

The course will help you to:

• help your child take their first steps in reading and spelling;
• understand how to help your child build, write and read words;
• understand how to correct your child when they make a mistake in their reading or writing;
• have a basic understanding of how phonics works.

Sounds Write Phonics

Here at Peranbin we know the impact that reading and writing have in our everyday lives. In order to ensure our students receive all the skills that need to be life long readers and writers we have implemented the Sounds Write approach to teaching phonics in our school.

Starting in Foundation and working up through to Year 2, each day students are given 30 minutess of explicit instruction in the sounds from the English language and how letters can represent these sounds. The structure of the prorgam means that sounds are taught in small groups beginning with initial sounds (e.g. a as in apple g as in girl d as in dog) and then applied to reading/writing and spelling tasks.

They are also taught how to bend sounds together to read a word and how to manipulate sounds in words e.g. change cat to cap

The teaching sequence for initial sounds is as follows:

Unit 1: a, i, m, s, t
Unit 2: n, o, p
Unit 3: b, c, g, h
Unit 4: d, f, v, e
Unit 5: k, l, r, u
Unit 6: j, w, z
Unit 7: x, y, ff, ll, ss

As children master the basic sounds they are then taught other key concepts such as that 2 letters can make 1 sound e.g. ch (chin), sh (shell), ll (bell) or ss (miss) or that one sound can be represented by more than one spelling. e.g. the /a/ sound can be written as ai (snail) ay (play) ea (great) or a-e (game). These ideas are reinforced through daily word building activities in whole class and small group sessions.

Daily classroom writing tasks and reading sessions also build on the knowledge presented in Sounds Write sessions to link all learning together for students 

For more information about the program head to https://www.sounds-write.co.uk/

To access the parent training session to help support your child at home please use this link https://www.udemy.com/course/help-your-child-to-read-and-write/