When children start Phase 4 of the Letters and Sounds phonics programme, they will know a grapheme (how a sound is written down) for every one of the 42 phonemes (sounds) in the English language. They will be able to blend phonemes to read CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and segment (break the word down using each sound in the word) in order to spell them.
Children will have also started reading straightforward, two-syllable words and simple captions, as well as reading and writing some tricky words.
In Phase 4 no new graphemes are introduced. The main aim of this phase is to consolidate the children's knowledge and to help them to learn to read and spell which have adjacent consonants, such as trap, string and milk.
During Phase 4 the following tricky words are introduced:
At Studham CofE Village School, Phase 2-4 are introduced in reception when the children are part of Oak Class.