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Important update from TheSchoolRun

For the past 13 years, TheSchoolRun has been run by a small team of mums working from home, dedicated to providing quality educational resources to primary school parents. Unfortunately, rising supplier costs and falling revenue have made it impossible for us to continue operating, and we’ve had to make the difficult decision to close. The good news: We’ve arranged for another educational provider to take over many of our resources. These will be hosted on a new portal, where the content will be updated and expanded to support your child’s learning.

What this means for subscribers:

  • Your subscription is still active, and for now, you can keep using the website as normal — just log in with your usual details to access all our articles and resources*.
  • In a few months, all resources will move to the new portal. You’ll continue to have access there until your subscription ends. We’ll send you full details nearer the time.
  • As a thank you for your support, we’ll also be sending you 16 primary school eBooks (worth £108.84) to download and keep.

A few changes to be aware of:

  • The Learning Journey weekly email has ended, but your child’s plan will still be updated on your dashboard each Monday. Just log in to see the recommended worksheets.
  • The 11+ weekly emails have now ended. We sent you all the remaining emails in the series at the end of March — please check your inbox (and spam folder) if you haven’t seen them. You can also follow the full programme here: 11+ Learning Journey.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for being part of our journey it’s been a privilege to support your family’s learning.

*If you need to reset your password, it will still work as usual. Please check your spam folder if the reset email doesn’t appear in your inbox.

Phase 2-5 phonics sounds mats tutorial

Interactive phonics sound mats
These handy interactive phonics sounds mats will help you practise each of the phonics sounds your child will learn in Reception and Year 1, grouped in the phonics phases (2-5) they will learn them in.
Start the tutorial ►
Keystage:  EYFS, Nursery, Reception

What are phonics phases?

Phonics phases are a structured way of teaching children how to read and spell by breaking down words into their individual sounds, or phonemes. These phases are designed to gradually introduce new sounds and spelling patterns in a systematic manner, starting from basic skills and progressing to more complex ones. 

There are typically six phonics phases, but the exact approach may vary depending on the educational system.

What are phonics sound mats?

Phonics sound mats are helpful tools used in early reading lessons to help kids learn their letter sounds. They can be big posters, stuck up on walls, that show all the different sounds that letters make in words or they can be smaller handouts that can be used practically in class. So, if your child is learning the letter 'a,' they'll see it on the mat along with the sounds it can make, like 'a' as in apple and 'ā' as in cake. These mats make learning phonics fun and easy for children. 

Our colourful phonics phases sound mats present the phonemes and graphemes children learn to read in Reception and Year 1, organised according to their phonics phase. Here's a link to the printable version of the phonics phases sound mats.

Look through all the phonics worksheets, activites and games on TheSchoolRun to find the best resources for your child.