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A tutor's guide to running phonics groups

Four children, four levels, forty-five minutes. How experienced tutors keep small phonics groups moving.

Meera Iyer
Tutor Community
Published14 July 2026Reading time1 minute
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Group by sound, not by age

A six-year-old and a seven-year-old on short vowels belong together; two six-year-olds at different levels don't. Assess with a quick sounds check, then group by where children actually are.

The 45-minute frame

Ten minutes of review games as children arrive. Twenty minutes on the new sound with whiteboards. Ten minutes of decodable reading in pairs. Five minutes of celebration and a note home about what to practise.

Let the platform carry the drill

Tutors we work with use PhonicSky for the repetition - the listen-and-tap practice children happily do solo - and keep their precious live minutes for blending coaching and confidence building.

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A tutor's guide to running phonics groups | PhonicSky