Questions about the new government guidance, Letters and Sounds

Why do we need Fun with Phonics? Can't we just use Letters and Sounds?
A school can certainly use Letters and Sounds to get the general guidance about teaching synthetic phonics. However, while it contains guidance, it does not contain the teaching resources a school needs to implement the guidance. A school needs a programme like Fun with Phonics in order to implement the guidance in Letters and Sounds.

Is the order in Fun with Phonics the same as in Letters and Sounds?
There are very minor differences between the order in Fun with Phonics and that in Letters and Sounds (the odd letter is in a different place). The order in Letters and Sounds is not statutory, so a school will be fine to follow the order in Fun with Phonics. However, if the school is keen to follow the order in Letters and Sounds, the Whiteboard Active CD-ROMs make this simple to do - you just need to select the relevant phoneme from the menu.

Letters and Sounds recommend introducing 4 phonemes a week, but you suggest covering 5 or 6. Which is best?

The number of sounds a school introduces each week really depends on the school. Like Fun with Phonics, Letters and Sounds originally recommended 5 or 6 phonemes a week, but the final publication brought it down to 4. If a school decides to teach 4 phonemes a week, this is fine, and makes no difference to Fun with Phonics as the resources would be used in exactly the same way.

How do the six phases in Letters and Sounds relate to the three steps in Fun with Phonics?

See the Summary of phases to find how Fun with Phonics progression matches the six-phase teaching programmed as highlighted in Letters and Sounds.

Does Fun with Phonics match the DCFS criteria for high-quality phonic work?
Yes Fun with Phonics matches all the criteria - see the self-assessment by clicking here.