Choosing a phonics programme

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Phonics should be taught as part of the main approach to developing early reading in primary schools, as part of an SSP – a Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme. ‘Systematic’ refers to the carefully planned order in which it is taught to build progressively and ‘Synthetic’ refers to the synthesis or ‘building up’ and ‘combining’ of letters and sounds to read words.

 

On this page you will find the details of all SSPs who have been ‘validated’ by the Department for Education, meaning they have been through a robust assessment process against the DfE’s validation criteria.

 

There is no statutory requirement for schools to choose one of the SSP programmes on the validated list,  but schools must ensure that they take an approach that is rigorous, systematic, used with fidelity (any resources used should exactly match the Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence (GPC) progression of their chosen SSP approach), and achieves strong results for all pupils, including the most disadvantaged. 

 

In order to receive funding from the English Hub programme, schools must demonstrate that they are using an SSP from the DfE’s validated list.

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To find out more about the DfE's validation process, please click here. 

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