Stages and Port Assessment guidance - Resource

The "All Aboard Phonics Plus Manual" provides a structured intervention journey consisting of eight stages, each with a specific focus and corresponding port assessment to gauge a learner's readiness for progression. The initial stage involves building phonemic awareness of sounds that the child has encountered in their current phase of the main Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme. The port assessment at this stage requires the child to orally break down simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words into individual sounds. Progression to Stage 2 is based on the child's ability to perform this task with reasonable accuracy and ease.

As the child advances through the stages, they encounter increasingly complex tasks. Stage 2 focuses on recognising graphemes and their associated sounds, with the assessment involving flashcards of graphemes. In Stage 3, the child's decoding and blending skills are assessed through reading a mix of real and nonsense CVC words. Further stages test the child's spelling abilities and their proficiency in handling more complex word structures, including VCC, CCVC, CVCC, and multisyllabic words. Port assessments are designed to be informal and integrated into the session without the child's awareness that they are being assessed. The manual emphasises that mastery of earlier stages typically leads to natural improvement in spelling, with the eighth stage being a significant yet non-essential milestone for the child's literacy development.