Phase 3

Once the children are secure with the phase two sounds, they will move onto phase 3 which teaches the pupils 25 new graphemes, most of which are diagraphs (phonemes containing 2 letters) and some trigraphs (phonemes with 2 letters).

Phase 3 follows the same teaching structure as Phase 2 with pupils beginning by revisiting previously taught phonemes, reading and writing CVC words containing these new phonemes and applying them to read and write captions and simple sentences.

Phase 3a

Phase 3a is taught over 3 weeks and includes 11 new phonemes (j, v, w, x, y, z, zz, qu, ch, sh, ng, and th) and the blend ‘ing’.

Phase 3b

Phase 3b is a revision of all the Phase 3a phonemes and the teaching of the digraph ‘th’. Once pupils have mastered this sub-phase, they will be able to read all the 3a and 3b books from the recommended booklist.

Phase 3c

Phase 3c continues to teach pupils digraphs and trigraphs and introduces the pupils to 9 new phonemes (ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, er, ur, and ir). Within this phase, the Phase 3 tricky words will be embedded and new high frequency words will be taught weekly.

Phase 3d

Phase 3d continues to teach pupils digraphs and trigraphs and introduces them to the final new phonemes in Phase 3 (or, ow, oi, ear, air and ure). The Phase 4 tricky words are taught alongside this phase to ensure they are embedded before the pupils progress to Phase 4. Pupils will also be taught to read new high frequency words on sight too to continue developing their fluency for reading with accuracy.