When the reading diary says "working on Phase 3", this is what that means — the standard Letters & Sounds sequence that Little Wandle, ELS and most phase-based schemes follow. (Read Write Inc orders sounds differently; the Phonics Book Finder translates.)
| Phase | What's taught | Typically |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | First 23 graphemes: s a t p · i n m d · g o c k · ck e u r · h b f ff l ll ss — enough to read simple words within weeks. Tricky words: the, to, I, no, go, into. | Reception, autumn |
| 3 | The rest of the single letters (j v w x y z zz qu) then the first digraphs and trigraphs: ch sh th ng ai ee igh oa oo ar or ur ow oi ear air ure er. Tricky words: he, she, we, me, be, was, you, they, all, are, my, her. | Reception |
| 4 | No new sounds. Practises blending adjacent consonants — the leap from "cat" to "stamp" and "crisp". If flashcards feel pointless during Phase 4, that's because the work has moved into words. | Reception, summer |
| 5 | Alternative spellings of known sounds: ay ou ie ea oy ir ue aw wh ph ew oe au and the split digraphs a-e e-e i-e o-e u-e (the "magic e"). This is where English admits how many ways it spells /ai/. More tricky words: oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked, could. | Year 1 |
"Phase 3, set 2" style notes refer to sub-groups within these lists — schemes chunk them slightly differently, which is fine: the sequence above is the shared skeleton. If a specific grapheme is named ("we're working on igh"), practise that one plus a handful of earlier ones — the mostly-known mix from our session guide.
Phase 6 (Year 2) shifts from decoding to spelling patterns and fluency — flashcard territory ends and reading-lots territory begins, which is what the book-matching side of our tools is for.
Sequence per the published Letters & Sounds framework (public sector information), August 2026. Schemes vary in chunking and order; your child's teacher is the authority. CAAC.
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