Phonics and Handwriting Webinar - September

Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting An inside look September 2026

Your presenters today

Bridget McHugh

Senior Product Manager at Cambridge

Gill Budgell

Series Editor and Author of Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting

What will we cover today?

Our approach

What the scheme includes

Why choose Cambridge

An example lesson

What schools say

Questions

Our approach

A comprehensive scheme Teaching and learning approaches

Teaching and learning resources

General guidance on our recommended approaches

Print and digital resources with detailed teaching guidance Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting Framework

Professional Development A self-study course to support you in getting started

Assessment Guidance and tools for continuous assessment to inform your next steps

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Phonological awareness and mark-making​

Letters and their sounds​

Groups of letters and their sounds

EY1 – ages 3-4

EY2 – ages 4-5

Refining fundamental phonics and handwriting skills​

What do the teaching and learning resources include?

Resources

Teaching resources

Front-of-class digital

Learner’s book

Step 1 learner’s book contains stickers (1 book). Step 2-4 have three learner’s books in each step (A, B, C)

Flashcards • 76 flashcards that cover sounds of single letters and combinations of letters.

• Colour-coded by step for easy organisation and progression.

• For short, playful sessions that build sound recognition and confidence through repetition and movement.

Why choose Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting?

14

The established and recent evidence for our scheme Academic research Corpus data analysis Input from our schools Input from experts​

15

Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting scheme: Designed for an international market – themes and contexts Supports English as a Second Language learners with slower pacing through the scheme Links to Cambridge Early Years and Primary for more connected teaching and learning.

Clear components with everything in ‘one place’

Aligns to Cambridge curricula Learning statements

Detailed teaching order

Corpus data analysis We analysed the letters and sounds in our Corpusgenerated list of words used most frequently. We identified which letter−sound correspondences children see and use most often.

s, a, t, p, i, n order

our order

1960s

Today

Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting has a unique order of letters and sounds.

Reminder: The content is the same for FLE and ESL, but the pacing is different.

How to pace for FLE and ESL English as a First Language Step

Pathway Stage

Recommended Ages

Step 1

EY1

3−4

Step 2

EY2

4−5

Step 3

EY3 or Primary Stage 1

5−6

Step 4

Primary Stage 2

6−7

Step

Pathway Stage

Recommended Ages

Step 1

EY1

3−4

Step 2

EY2

4−5

Step 2 & Step 3

EY3 or Primary Stage 1

5−6

Step 3

Primary Stage 2

6−7

Step 4

Primary Stage 3

7−8

Step 4

Primary Stage 4

8−9

English as a Second Language

Supports a multilingual approach • Pronunciation videos and phrases.

• ‘Listen and observe’ feature to help you notice each child’s strengths and support needs during activities.

Links phonics and handwriting Main phonics focus

Main handwriting focus

Step 1

Pre-reading skills (phonological awareness)

Pre-writing skills (fine motor skills and mark-making)

Step 2

Recognising the sound of each letter (lower case and capital)

Lower-case letter formation of each letter

Step 3

Digraphs and trigraphs (groups of letters that make a single sound).

Capital letter formation of each letter Joining letters in digraphs and trigraphs

Step 4

Spelling variations: digraphs that make the same sound; letters that represent more than one sound

Joining a wider range of letters in the Step 4 phonics key words

Lays firm foundations (Step 1) Phonological awareness

Markmaking

Systematic Synthetic Phonics (Steps 2 to 4) Children combine the sounds of letters to read words.

Children learn to recognise the shape and sounds of letters.

Children separate words into sounds to spell them.

Letter family approach to letter formation (Step 2) • Our handwriting order follows the phonics order.

• We use the systematic approach that makes links between letters from the same letter family and aligned with our Penpals for Handwriting programme.

Learning a letter’s sound, shape and formation together reinforces learning through speech, sight and movement.

Links the joining of digraphs and phonics (Steps 3 to 4) Joining letters helps with writing fluency and speed.

We first introduce joining in Step 3 to support phonics understanding of pairs of letters that represent one sound (digraphs).

Children learn a digraph in phonics.

Children learn to join the two letters to reinforce that the two letters make one sound.

The Penpals for Handwriting approach to joining Diagonal joins

Horizontal joins

Teaching a lesson with Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting

Review past learning

b and l g and l p and t ​

Using the online resources for review

Teaching a lesson with Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting – Step 3

Activity 1 – recognising a new phoneme

Activity 1 – saying the new phoneme

Activity 1: Song.

Listening. Then joining in.

Activity 1: Song.

Listening for words with the ir sound. Modelling.

bird

dirty

skirt

shirt

Activity 1: Song.

Applying decoding skills: s and k

skirt s-k-ir-t

skip s-k-i-p

Activity 1: role play

Activity 1: Practising and Applying using the Learner's book

Activity 2:Applying decoding skills: ir and s and k

Activity 3: Recognising tricky words

Activity 4: Applying blending or segmenting skills

Activity 5: Practising diagonal join, no ascender: ar, ee, er, ay, ew, ai and ir

Activity 5: Practising diagonal join, no ascender: ar, ee, er, ay, ew, ai and ir

Bharati Vidyapeeth Rabindranath Tagore School of Excellence IN 568 Ms. Arrchena Kotamraj, Class Facilitator and Ms. Dhara Mehta, Pre-Primary Head

School and Pre-primary context • Balewadi, Pune.

• School strength Over 1200 Students with over 100 students in Pre-primary • Offer Cambridge programmes right through the pathway

Elets WORLD EDUCATION SUMMIT

Pre-Primary at BVRTSE “Don’t limit a child’s learning to your own as he was born in another time” Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

Every child has tremendous potential which needs to be tapped through an atmosphere that fosters creativity, communication and confidence.

Why introduce Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting?

• To ensure that learners’ transition smoothly from Early Years to Stage 1 with strong foundational literacy skills.

• To continue to strengthen teachers’ expertise delivering the programme with increasing consistency and confidence.

Transitioning schemes "Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” — Robin Sharma • We were using materials from different sources including Jolly Phonics, Oxford and teacher-created materials.

• Cambridge’s extensive support including detailed teacher guides, online resources, printed materials, and introductory training sessions, facilitated our implementation.

• Collaborative planning helped teachers build confidence and deepen their understanding of the programme, enabling them to deliver lessons effectively.

Assessment • We are using the Cambridge GO revision units (Units 1–5), which provide valuable opportunities for learners to revise letter sounds, two- and three-letter words, and CVC words.

• These activities also enable teachers to monitor learner progress informally while reinforcing key phonics concepts.

• We shall soon be using the Assessment Checklist to evaluate the phonological awareness developed in each unit of Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting.

So far…

• Students have become more confident in recognising letter sounds, blending, reading and writing.

• The structured integration of phonics with reading and writing has strengthened their overall literacy development.

• Teachers have gained confidence because the programme has a well-organised structure and an abundance of high-quality teaching resources.

• One of the greatest strengths of the Cambridge curriculum is its flexibility. It is learnercentred and allows teachers to adapt to the pace and depth of instruction according to the needs and readiness of their learners.

• Over the coming year, we hope to see students become confident, independent readers and writers with strong phonics knowledge, improved fluency and a genuine love for reading.

Advice for other schools • Consistency is the key to successful implementation. Schools should follow the programme systematically and make full use of the comprehensive Teacher's Guide, which provides clear guidance at every stage.

• Conduct orientation sessions for parents to help them understand letter formations, actions, and the overall philosophy of the programme.

• Transitioning from Jolly Phonics to the Cambridge actions and stories initially requires additional reinforcement.

However, with regular practice and consistent exposure, learners adapt successfully.

Next steps •If you would like a 60-day trial of the resources, simply contact your local sales rep and they will set it up for you.

•Our website has information on Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting •Look inside Learner books

•Make sure you sign up to receive our newsletter to hear about upcoming events: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/news/newslette •Our downloadable Alphabet poster is ideal to display in classrooms and to share with parents: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/support-and-training-for-schools/communications-toolkit/posters/ •Our Parent page has pronunciation videos, a presentation for parents and helpful guides: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-early-years/parent-support/

Implementing Cambridge Phonics and Handwriting • Our implementation video here gives advice on first and second language learner progression.

• See this on Vimeo: Implementing Cambridge Phonics and Handwriti ng | Videos & Movies on Vimeo

Thank you!

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