Phonics Programme
The 7E Stages of Learning
A structured, child-friendly journey through phonics — from early sound awareness at age 3 to confident, independent reading at 6+. Built around seven progressive stages designed for home, nursery, and school.
Introducing the 7E Learning Stages
The Magic Alpha-belt phonics programme is built around seven progressive stages of learning — known as the 7E framework. It supports children aged 3 to 6+, and is closely aligned with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and complements Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programmes used in UK primary schools.
The programme recognises that children learn in different ways and at different paces, and provides the flexibility for each child to move through the stages when they are ready. Every stage contains a structured instruction and guidance section followed by an activity section for practice and consolidation.
Alpha-Pics
Over 300 specially designed illustrations that hide letter shapes in familiar objects, helping children visually connect letters with sounds — including two and three letter phonemes such as ar, ai, ear, and ure.
Adventure Storybooks
A series of engaging stories following Danny, his sister Lottie, and their friends. Each story includes 30–35 hidden alpha-pics that children are encouraged to spot, promoting visual recognition of letter sounds.
Phonicano Models
Downloadable, interactive audio tools that work like a piano keyboard. Children press alpha-keys to hear the 26 single letter sounds and 44 phonemes. Models range from basic (26 letters) to advanced (240+ alternative spellings).
Activity Resources
Activity books, flash cards, dot-to-dot sheets, posters, and instructional guides — all designed to reinforce phonics through play, practice, and repetition.
The 7 Stages
Click any stage to jump to its full detail below, or scroll down to explore each one in order.
Explore
+ 3
Discover sounds and letter shapes
Engage
+ 3
Playful early phonics awareness
Enhance
+ 4
Start building simple words
Evolve
+ 4
Confident writing and blending
Expand
+ 5
Master the 44 phonic sounds
Empower
+ 5
Learn alternative spellings
Enlighten
+ 6
From decodable to free reading
Stage 1
Explore + 3
Age Group Guide: 3+ (Nursery)
Learning Outcomes
- Recognise, identify, and recall the shape and sounds of the 26 single letter sounds.
- Develop fine motor skills and confidence in drawing straight lines, curves, circles, and other shapes, as preparation for writing lower case and capital letters.
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Used to introduce and recall the shape and sounds of the 26 single letters (lower case and capitals).
Adventure Story Books
- Read by parents and teachers to encourage children to find letter sounds hidden in the pictures.
Supporting EYFS and ELGs
- Promotes communication and language, literacy, mathematics, physical development (fine motor skills), creative and artistic expression, understanding the world, and personal, social and emotional development.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards (lower case and capitals), Alpha-pic matching activities, posters with the 26 Alpha-pics, general activity books including join the dots, complete the letter shapes, and colour in Alpha-pics from the adventure stories.
Stage 2
Engage + 3
Age Group Guide: 3+ (Nursery)
Learning Outcomes
- Recognise, identify, and recall the shape and sounds of the 26 single letter sounds.
- Develop fine motor skills and confidence in drawing straight lines, curves, circles, and other shapes.
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Used to introduce and recall the shape and sounds of the 26 single letters (lower case and capitals).
Adventure Story Books
- Read by parents and teachers to encourage children to find letter sounds hidden in the pictures.
Supporting EYFS and ELGs
- Promotes communication and language, literacy, mathematics, physical development, creative expression, understanding the world, and personal, social and emotional development.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards (lower case and capitals), Alpha-pic matching activities, posters with the 26 Alpha-pics, general activity books including join the dots, complete the letter shapes, and colour in Alpha-pics from the adventure stories.
Stage 3
Enhance + 4
Age Group Guide: 4+ (Final Year Nursery and Reception)
Learning Outcomes
- Confidently write the 26 single letter sounds.
- Blend and segment simple CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words.
- Identify phonic sounds: x (ks), qu (kw), and double letter sounds (ee, oo, bb, dd, etc.).
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Used to identify individual sounds and build CVC and CCVC words.
Adventure Story Books
- Read by parents and teachers to encourage children to find letter sounds in pictures and sound out some of the CVC and CCVC words in the stories.
Supporting EYFS and ELGs
- Promotes communication and language, literacy, mathematics, physical development, creative expression, understanding the world, and personal, social and emotional development.
Supporting SSP Programmes
- Introduces single letter sounds in the sequence: s a t p, i n m d, g o c k, ck e u r, h b f l, j v w z, q x y
- Introduces double letter sounds.
Phonicano Model
- 'Mini' Audio Phonicano models that introduce the 26 single 'letter sounds' with visual representation.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards for building simple CVC and CCVC words, instruction and activity booklets introducing single and double letter sounds.
Stage 4
Evolve + 4
Age Group Guide: 4+ (Final Year Nursery and Reception)
Learning Outcomes
- Confidently write the 26 single letter sounds.
- Blend and segment simple CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words.
- Identify phonic sounds: x (ks), qu (kw), and double letter sounds.
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Used to identify individual sounds and build CVC and CCVC words.
Adventure Story Books
- Read by parents and teachers to find letter sounds in pictures and sound out CVC and CCVC words in the stories.
Phonicano Model
- 'Mini' Audio Phonicano models that introduce the 26 single 'letter sounds' with visual representation.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards for building simple CVC and CCVC words, instruction and activity booklets introducing single and double letter sounds.
Stage 5
Expand + 5
Age Group Guide: 5+ (Reception and Year 1 Primary)
Learning Outcomes
- Master the 44 phonic sounds and match them to their one-to-one phoneme/grapheme correspondences.
- Build words such as: sh-ar-k, t-r-ee, sh-ow-er, ow-l, t-r-ai-n, k-ar-t, c-ar, ch-air, ear.
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Phoneme Alpha-pics used to represent and recall the 44 phonic sounds and their letter combinations.
Adventure Story Books
- Read by parents and teachers to find letter sounds, CVC/CCVC words, and one-to-one grapheme words in the stories.
Supporting SSP Programmes
- Focus on securing the 44 phonic sounds before moving on to alternative spellings.
Phonicano Model
- Audio Phonicano used for practising blending and segmenting one-to-one grapheme/phoneme words.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards of the 44 Alpha-pic phonemes, word-building flashcards, posters, instruction and activity booklets.
Stage 6
Empower + 5
Age Group Guide: 5+ (Year 1 and Year 2 Primary)
Learning Outcomes
- Understand that one phoneme can have multiple spellings, and one spelling can represent more than one phoneme.
- Use split digraphs.
- Blend, segment, encode and decode words using 160 of the most popular alternative spellings for the 44 phonemes.
Application of Alpha-Pics
- Used in a fun, engaging way to introduce words with 160 alternative spellings.
Adventure Story Books
- Children who have mastered the 160 grapheme/phoneme correspondences should be able to read many words in the stories with adult guidance.
Supporting SSP Programmes
- Interactive, multisensory resources to support learning 160 alternative spellings and support reading of decodable books.
Phonicano Model
- Audio 'Super' Phonicano and Phonicano Wheel displaying over 160 alternative spellings.
Resources and Products
- Flashcards for building words with 160 alternative spellings, instruction and activity booklets.
Stage 7
Enlighten + 6
Age Group Guide: 6+ (Year 2 Primary)
Learning Outcomes
- Progress from reading decodable books to becoming a free reader.
- Three formats provided to suit different learning styles and teaching methods.
Adventure Story Books
- Children can read the adventure stories independently with minimal support from adults.
Supporting SSP Programmes
- Extension stage designed to bridge from phonics programmes to independent reading.
Phonicano Model
- Audio 'Mega' Phonicano displays over 240 alternative spellings, supporting decoding of 95–98% of the most frequently used words in English.
Resources and Products
- 'Phonics by Stories' series (short picture books, bite-sized stories, rhyming poems).
- Flashcards for matching sounds and spellings to over 800 featured words in the series.