Debbie Hepplewhite designed and refined her original ‘Phonics International’ programme into a very streamlined ‘pick-up-and-go’ series of 11 cumulative, decodable ‘No Nonsense Phonics Skills’ Pupil Books and their parallel Teacher Books as ready-made resources.
The No Nonsense Phonics programme (‘validated’ by the Department for Education in England in 2021 as a stand-alone programme in its own right) features the same key picture-words as on Debbie’s free overview Alphabetic Code Charts and in the Phonics International programme.
Additionally, Phonics International Ltd developed ready-made, hard copy resources for those schools preferring, or being able, to purchase high quality products such as Flash Cards, Frieze Sheets, Sounds Mats and Mini Code Cards Sets 1 and 2, and Set 3. These can be used in a supplementary or complementary way with either No Nonsense Phonics or Phonics International. Indeed, the free additional ‘games and activities’ in Units 1 to 6 of Phonics International can be used with No Nonsense Phonics.
The outstanding ‘Free Resources’ via the No Nonsense Phonics website can also be used with either programme – such as the ‘Miniature Frieze’ and printable ‘Sounds Mats’. These are well worth investigating.
Fully transparent information and free training is provided by videos and PowerPoints for the No Nonsense Phonics programme via the main website so there is no need for people to ‘pay’ for the training to deliver the No Nonsense Phonics programme well. It is a truly ‘pick-up-and-go’ programme designed with all stakeholders in mind (teachers, teaching assistants, schools’ senior managers, special needs teachers, tutors, home-educators, learners, learners’ parents and carers).
A further development over the years (2021 to 2026) has been Debbie’s range of phonics decodable reading books. The first five in the series are entitled ‘Phonics and language-play books’ followed by 50 further ‘Phonics and vocabulary books’. These books are rich in vocabulary, with some typical English language expressions and concepts, and they include shorter and longer words from the outset. There are 55 books in this series – available as hard copy books and as eBooks via eBookshelves. Again, these can be used to complement both the No Nonsense Phonics programme and the first half of the Phonics International programme . They also make an excellent addition to any schools teaching reading and spelling in the English language to enrich their phonics stock of literature. You can see some examples HERE.
Some Testimonials
Wales (since writing this post, further schools in Wales have adopted No Nonsense Phonics thanks to what they have seen developing in Rob’s school where the programme is now being adopted from Reception (four years old). There are also schools in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland where No Nonsense Phonics was at first trialled for ‘intervention’ to great effect and subsequently adopted for whole school provision: https://hepplewhite.org/2024/11/27/rob-randel-provides-the-welsh-content-for-an-english-welsh-alphabetic-code-chart-and-describes-his-findings-using-the-no-nonsense-phonics-pupil-books-and-the-complementary-phonics-reading-books/