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Phonics Reform England: Not reading reform. Phonics reform. Improving phonics for the one in five at risk of struggling to read and spell.
The English Pronunciation Code
'The Chaos' - a poem of English pronunciation by George Nolst Trenite (1870-1946)
Code Mapped® to Show the English Pronunciation Code (EPC)
Making Sense of the Chaos. Show the Code! Join the Dots. Emma Hartnell-Baker
Phonics Reform England (PRE)
It’s SATs week. Who wants to bet the data hasn’t shifted?
That’s the thing: if you keep hammering a screw, all you’re doing is damaging a perfectly good screw while expecting it to become a nail.
Embrace the nail. Use different tools.
Let's Show the Code: Less Teaching, More Self-Teaching
Emma Hartnell-Baker
If you think phonics programmes provide sufficient support for children to decode with proficiency, it’s important to recognise that skilled readers use far more than the limited set of grapheme–phoneme correspondences typically taught. Most programmes teach around 100 GPCs, while English orthography draws on several hundred.
If you can decode this poem, assigning sounds to the letters across unfamiliar and inconsistent spellings, that knowledge wasn’t fully taught through a phonics programme. It reflects self-teaching, a process well established in the research as the mechanism through which readers extend beyond initial instruction.
So the question is simple: can you decode this poem?
If not, how will you support children? Children don’t only encounter words that fit within a taught subset, and they won’t always ask for help. Supporting them requires more than programme coverage. It requires secure knowledge of how letters and sounds connect across the system.
The Reading Framework states:
“Understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words underpins successful word reading. Pupils’ knowledge of the English alphabetic code, how letters or groups of letters represent the sounds of the language, supports their reading and spelling.” (Department for Education, 2023)
To support all learners parents and teachers need to ientify which letters are graphemes and assign their sound value.
Emma Hartnell-Baker makes this easier for adults as the algorithm shows how graphemes represent the sounds of language, regardless of how complex the code. The mapped Chaos poem is shown below, using the English Pronunication Code.
In reading, pupils are taught to decode by identifying graphemes in written words from left to right, saying the corresponding phonemes, and blending those phonemes to say the whole word (Department for Education, 2023, p. 47).
Every word is segmented into graphemes, and each grapheme is shown as a complete unit across the word. The alternating black and grey shading, with blue used to denote split vowel digraphs, is not decoration; it simply marks the boundaries between graphemes so the structure can be seen at a glance. This is something every teacher of phonics needs to be able to do to support children throughout the day, because “teachers should draw pupils’ attention to grapheme–phoneme correspondences that both do and do not fit with what has been taught so far” (Department for Education, Spelling Framework, p. 75).
However this can change with accents, and so adults need to know which pronunication code they are using.
Do it youself first!
Can you identify which letters are graphemes and assign their sound values?
When teaching phonics, children are only ever explicitly taught a small subset of the alphabetic code, around 100 grapheme–phoneme correspondences. Yet throughout the day, when reading and writing beyond the lesson, they encounter words that fall outside that taught set and may need support.
As a skilled reader, this might seem straightforward. But it isn’t. We know that from training over 10,000 teachers in word mapping, both decoding and encoding.
So if phonics programmes don’t teach all these correspondences, how will your child or students learn to read and spell?
How are you able to work them out?
That’s the question.
The most effective teachers are confident with the full process of word mapping. They can identify the graphemes, assign the phonemes, and explain how the system works across all words, not just those within a phonics programme.
Calming the Chaos of English with the English Pronunciation Code (EPC)
As the Upstream Team, we bring Level 7 SEN, SLCN and SpLD expertise, grounded in pattern-seeking neurodivergent thinking, and are committed to reforming (not replacing) phonics in England so it works for every learner, with every accent, preventing the dyslexia paradox.
English is an opaque orthography with over 350 speech-sound mappings. The Phonics Screening Check tests knowledge of around 95 GPCs. Children are expected to figure the rest out themselves through self-teaching. One in four are struggling. We can change that inexpensively and personalise support at scale.
Code Mapping® and The Self-Teaching Reader Tech
Children can’t be taught every word they will ever need to read and spell, and synthetic phonics programmes only kick-start word mapping. The level of expertise and 1:1 support offered to at-risk children varies considerably.
MyWordz® technology is being considered by the Department for Education’s EdTech Impact Testbed Pilot as a way to support literacy across the UK. The Self-Teaching Reader will be included and offered for free to any child in England with a dyslexia diagnosis.
I have developed a proprietary algorithm that makes the English spelling system visible in every word, so all learners can access the self-teaching process required for fluent reading and spelling. It will also help teachers more easily support word mapping outside if phonics lessons. Identifynig the graphemes and giving the mapped phonemes is not as easy as it sounds. Try it with The Chaos poem.
The Code Mapping® display is fully explicit using the Orthographic Mapping Tool. Every word is segmented into graphemes, and each grapheme is shown as a complete unit across the word. Alternating black and grey shading is not decoration; it marks the boundaries between graphemes so the structure can be seen at a glance. Blue is used to show split digraphs.
When IPA aligned Phonemies® are included, they show the sound each grapheme represents, helping the reader connect what they see on the page to what they hear in speech. The structure of the word is clear, not guessed.
When shown in texts such as The Chaos by the code is made visible. This reduces cognitive load and the effort needed to figure out how letters and sounds connect, so children can focus on understanding and enjoying the stories, and quickly move towards self-teaching.
This means no child is left behind, puzzled by English orthography, and children are more likely to read for pleasure by age 7. It also means that teachers tasked with supprting word mapping are, themselves, supported. Ask about Chaos to Clarity Training.
MyWordzTechnology.com
"Miss Emma"
Neurodivergent Reading Whisperer®
Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN
Former owner manager of two nurseries rated Outstanding
Former OFSTED Inspector
Based in England, supporting reading for pleasure in Australian schools
Doctoral researcher, University of Reading
