Synthetic phonics is at the core of Get Reading Right because it gets impressive results for every child — including those learning English as a second language, boys, and students experiencing reading difficulties.
What Makes Synthetic Phonics So Powerful
What is Synthetic Phonics?
Synthetic phonics is a technical name that has nothing to do with being artificial! It is the synthesising — or blending — of phonemes (sounds) to make a word, enabling children to read. The evidence behind this approach is so strong that England made systematic synthetic phonics mandatory in every state primary school following the Rose Review in 2006.
At a Glance, Synthetic Phonics Teaches Children:
Phonemic awareness — that spoken words are composed of individual phonemes (sounds).
The 44 phonemes of the English language — going well beyond the 26 letters of the alphabet.
Multiple spellings — all the different ways each phoneme can be represented. For example, the phoneme /a/ as in ‘apron’ can be spelled ‘ay’ (pay), ‘ai’ (paid), ‘a’ (apron), ‘eigh’ (eight) and more.
Blending to read — synthesising phonemes in a word to decode it.
Segmenting to spell — listening for phonemes in words and writing them down.
Camera Words — irregular high-frequency words that are essential for progressing writing quality and reading full sentences. We call them Camera Words because children learn to recognise them on sight.
Phoneme first, then letter name — children learn the sounds before the letter names, ensuring blending works from the start.
Learn More
Our whitepaper explaining the full process — ideal for teachers and school leaders new to the approach.
See how synthetic phonics quickly progresses children’s writing confidence — a real example from the classroom.
See it in action.
Get Reading Right gives you everything you need to teach synthetic phonics with confidence — structured lesson plans, decodable readers, and free resources to get started. Browse our resources or explore our free materials.