KS3 Phonics Programme

GES Simply Letters and Sounds is a validated DfE Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme adapted for Key Stage 3

We know from school feedback that there are an increasing number of young people entering Year 7 with serious phonics and literacy gaps which limit their ability to access the mainstream curriculum. Finding appropriate materials to support a range of staff to address this can be challenging in secondary. With this in mind, we have secured the support of Raj Mehta, a DfE approved phonics and literacy expert who is offering a package of CPD, coaching and resources to help address this area.

GES Simply Letters and Sounds adapted for key stage 3 directly responds to Ofsted's recommendations mentioned in Telling the Story: the English education subject report, March 2024. The key objective of this programme is to help secondary teachers swiftly identify and address students' specific gaps in phonics knowledge and skills. This will help students to develop fluency in reading and comprehension. Furthermore, it helps teachers to adapt the learning to meet the specific needs of individual students. The aim is for students to become fluent, confident readers and writers as soon as possible so they can meet the challenges of the secondary curriculum.

GES Simply Letters and Sounds is unique because the principles of working memory are firmly embedded. They offer students opportunities to:

• overlearn key phonic knowledge

• master blending and segmenting skills

• gain fluency, accuracy and speed in reading and spelling

CPD will cover:

Effective Phonics Teaching

Reading Fluency

Leading and Managing Reading

To be followed up with a bespoke consultancy day in your school/ academy.

Please contact education@hillingdon.gov.uk to sign up or if you have any further queries.

GES SLS Key Stage 3 Flyer (Word doc) [233KB]

Lesson 30 c g alt pronunciation (PDF) [133KB]

We ran a Q&A session for schools on GES Simply Letters and Sounds, please see recording of the seesion here: