What it supports
Explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction: the approach the reading research supports.
Structured, systematic phonics
Every child can
learn to read.
A science-based reading programme, taught by a person, to one child, a group or a whole class.
10+ yearsworking with children100,000+children
Start where you are
Families
Help your child learn to read, with a trained teacher beside them.
Enrol your child →Schools
One method for the whole class, taught by Phonido teachers.
Enrol your school →Organisations
Bring structured reading to your institute, centre or community.
Enrol your organisation →Teachers
Train, certify and teach with Phonido.
Apply to teach →Two minutes
Phonido is a lighthouse.
A short film, with a gentle voice and the words on screen. It plays only when you press Play.
Read the words
- Scene 1Phonido is a lighthouse. A steady light, showing every child the way to reading.
- Scene 2It begins at the shore. A parent brings their child, and places that small hand in the hand of a teacher.
- Scene 3Together, teacher and child set out. The way is long, but the lighthouse is always in sight. Its light is the science of how reading works.
- Scene 4From that light come the sounds. The teacher helps the child to hear them, and to tell one from another.
- Scene 5Then the letters. Seeing them, saying them and writing them, again and again, until they feel like old friends.
- Scene 6And now, the teacher shows how reading is made. Three sounds. Join them together, and you have read a word: cat. That is decoding.
- Scene 7Along the way, the teacher lifts more from the water. Words to know by heart. The magic e, that turns cap into cape. The bossy r, that changes a sound. Each one, at the right moment.
- Scene 8Little by little, words become sentences, and sentences become stories. And the child begins to understand.
- Scene 9Then, one morning, the child reaches the other side. Reading, with confidence. And far behind, the lighthouse is still shining.
- Scene 10This is Phonido, from Modern Learning Studio, with more than ten years of working with children, and more than one hundred thousand children. Roots, Lighthouse and Phonido for Schools. Because every child can learn to read.
A person, beside the child
Reading is passed on, by a teacher.
Sounds, letters, new words and stories all reach a child through a trained adult sitting beside them. Phonido gives that adult the right lesson, at the moment it is needed.
How reading works
Sound, letter, word.
1. A sound
Words are made of sounds. The word cat has three: /k/ /a/ /t/.
2. A letter
A letter stands for a sound. The letter c stands for /k/.
3. A word
Join the sounds and you can read the word: cat.
Try it yourself
Choose a word, then tap the tiles to place them. Each tile says its sound. Two letters can make one sound: sh is one tile.
Tap a tile to begin.
The Reading Rope
Reading is not one skill. It is a rope.
Understanding language
- Background knowledge
- Vocabulary
- Language structures
- Verbal reasoning
- Literacy knowledge
Recognising words
- Phonological awareness
- Decoding
- Sight recognition
Woven together, over years, they become skilled reading. Phonics is how the lower strands are taught, on purpose, one step at a time.
The Reading Rope is Hollis Scarborough's model (2001). More on how reading works
What the research says
What the research says, and what it does not.
We say plainly what the research does not support.
Dyslexia-specific typefaces
They have no reliable effect on reading outcomes. All child reading text is set in Andika for its unambiguous letterforms, and we make no outcome claim for it.
Multisensory activity
It is not the active ingredient. Explicit, systematic, cumulative instruction is.
The programmes
Three programmes, one method.
Roots, Lighthouse and Phonido for Schools.
- Seed
- Sprout
- Sapling
- Strong Tree
- Canopy
Ages 4 and up · first teaching
Phonido Roots
Five levels, the Seed to the Canopy: one Student Book and one Workbook per child per level, and a HeartWise Moment in every unit.
Ages 4 and up · intervention
Phonido Lighthouse
For the child who needs a second chance. A child is placed at a day and works forward. No restarts anywhere. Lighthouse is a teaching programme, with a trained adult beside the child.
Taught in class by Phonido teachers · whole class
Phonido for Schools
100 school days in four volumes, with an Advanced book.
Try to read this
Can you read this sentence?
These are invented symbols. Each one stands for one sound. Tap a symbol to be given its key, one at a time.
Your key: 0 of 7
Dyslexia is about linking sounds and print. It is not about intelligence, and letters do not move on the page.
How reading can feel for a child with dyslexia →
A journey, not a test.
A child's progress is shown in words: secure, developing or not yet secure.
On the shelf
Children have no accounts. Most learning happens on paper, with a teacher.
- More than 10 yearsworking with children
- More than 100,000children
- 298sessions across Roots and Lighthouse
Trust
Four promises, each one something you can check in the product.
Each describes what the platform does today. What is planned is labelled as planned, and is not promised here.
A child's name stays inside their school
A school may keep a child's name for its own class lists. Only that school's staff and Phonido head office can see it. It is never sold, never shared with anyone else, and never used for advertising.
No score for a child
A child's progress is shown in words, secure, developing or not yet secure, never as a rank, a streak or a league table. A reading check's figures are for the teacher, to decide the next step.
Parents join only by invitation
A parent signs in with a family code from their child's school, and sees only their own child. Nothing is sent to a family automatically. The teacher decides what goes home.
Children have no logins
A child never has an account or a password. Most of the learning happens on paper, with a teacher. In an online lesson the child joins through a link from their teacher and sees only the lesson board.
Teachers
Teacher training
The Phonido Teacher Academy has four stages, ten modules and 36 taught hours, then a practicum and a certification exam.
- Trainee
- Certified
- Renewed
- Mentor
No certificate, no solo teaching. Certificates can be checked at /verify.
About teacher training →Enrol your school, your organisation or your child.
