How to Get Started

It's easy! We provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision. Book your place for a live Showcase or create a trial account. Click the tabs below to get started.

Step 1: Find out more

• Book your place on an Anima Phonics Showcase. Explore the programme with the co-creator of Anima Phonics and ask any questions you have.
• Read our detailed FAQ below.
• Send us a message and we'll get back to you with more information.

GET IN TOUCH

Step 2: Start a trial

​Our 14-day trial accounts give you and your colleagues access to our planning, resources and interactive lessons.

No need to wait for approval. Simply sign up below and you'll have immediate access to Anima Phonics. Add your colleagues too!

START TRIAL

Step 3: Create membership

​As soon as you're ready, complete our easy sign-up form and we'll start setting up your account. Welcome to Team AP! ​

To order books and resources, submit the form below and we'll create an invoice for you.

A) Create membership

B) Order books and resources

C) Book teacher training

FAQ

Our detailed FAQ will tell you everything you need to know about our programme. From pricing and memberships, to resources and training. If you can't find an answer to your question, get in touch and one of our team will get back to you asap.

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Pricing

School Subscription Fees

School Subscription Fees

The pricing listed below is for a full year's membership to Anima Phonics. This includes unlimited teacher accounts, with full access to our planning, lessons, resources and assessment materials. Optional extras, such as our decodable book series and teacher training can be purchased separately.

Half-form entry	One-form entry	Two-form entry	Three-form + entry
295	545	745	945
per year	per year	per year	per year
For schools with fewer than 15 children per year group.	For small schools, with just one class per year group.	For medium schools, with two classes per year group.	​For large schools, with three or more classes per year group.
Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up

SEN School? To give you a fairer price, we base your fees on the number of children on roll. Please contact us to discuss.

Nursery Subscription Fees

Nursery Subscription Fees

Early Worms	Add On: Phase 2	Add On: Phase 3
99	49	69
per year	per year	per year
Access to Early Worms (Phase 1 only).	Phase 2 add on. Can only be purchased with Early Worms.	Phase 3 add on. Can only be purchased with Early Worms.
Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up

Multi-school discounts

Multi-school Discounts

We offer discounted subscription fees for school groups, such as multi-academy trusts. Please contact us to discuss.

• Two schools: 10% discount.
• Three schools: 15% discount.
• Four schools or more: 20% discount.

Single Child Membership

Single-child Memberships

For parents, tutors and home educators, we offer monthly and yearly recurring subscriptions.

All memberships begin with a 14-day free trial.

​Please visit our parent memberships web page to view pricing.

General

Has your programme been validated by the DfE?

Yes! Our programme was validated by the Department for Education in December 2021.

What does validation mean?

Validation status indicates that a programme has been judged by an independent panel with relevant expertise and consider it to meet all of the Department for Education (DfE) criteria for an effective systematic synthetic phonics programme.
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A complete systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme is one that provides:

• all that is essential to teach SSP to children in reception and key stage 1 years of mainstream primary schools
• sufficient support for children in reception and key stage 1 to become fluent readers
• a structured route for most children to meet or exceed the expected standard in the year one phonics screening check
• all national curriculum expectations for word reading through decoding by the end of key stage 1.

Which year groups is this for?

Anima Phonics provides planning, resources and ready-made activities for every day of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. We also have our own nursery programme, Early Worms, with role-play resources and interactive games to compliment Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds.

What's wrong with Letters and Sounds?

We love Letters and Sounds and our programme is based on its phases and progression. However, since it was first published in 2007, Letters and Sounds has fallen out of sync with the Year One Screening Check (2012), the updated National Curriculum (2014) and the new Reading Framework (2021).

This is most evident when comparing Letters and Sounds to the English Programmes of Study. This identifies a number of objectives for Year 1 that are not covered in Phase 5 of Letters and Sounds. Furthermore, Phase 6 has been entirely replaced by the Year 2 programme of study for phonics and spelling outlined in the National Curriculum. Additional graphemes have been added and some have moved year groups.

For schools following the progression of Letters and Sounds, this has meant rejigging and adapting the handbook to ensure they are meeting the National Curriculum requirements.

“The 2007 Letters and Sounds handbook, published under the previous government, has never been a full SSP programme. For a number of years, effective teaching using Letters and Sounds has relied on schools themselves building a programme around the handbook. We recognise, however, that for many schools, especially those who want or need to improve their practice, 2007 Letters and Sounds is not fit for purpose and does not provide the support, guidance, resources or training needed.” Department for Education (2021)

How has Letters and Sounds been updated?

Our programme is based on the phases of Letters and Sounds, now updated to include planning, resources and training to meet all current guidelines and expectations. This includes new graphemes added in the Y1 and Y2 English Programmes of Study. 

What is the Anima Phonics order of progression?

We follow the progression of Phases 1-6 of Letters and Sounds, with the following adjustments:

• Phase 5 has been organised into a sequence.
• GPCs that feature in the Y1 Screening Check are taught at the beginning of Phase 5.
• Phase 5 now includes common prefixes and suffixes, to align with the 2014 National Curriculum.
• Phase 6 now includes additional GPCs and spelling rules, taken from the Year 2 English Programme of Study.
• Common exception words have been increased to include all those in the KS1 National Curriculum.

Do we need to throw away our old resources?

Not at all!  We recognise that many schools will have a well-stocked library or resource bank full of meticulously crafted activities and worksheets. We provide guidance and advice on how to integrate these into your phonics provision and ensure that your hard work does not go to waste.

Can my school book a demo to see how it works?

Join one of our regular online Showcases. We can give you and your colleagues a guided tour of the website and answer any questions you have.

Can we start Anima Phonics after the year has started?

It's not a problem if you're itching to get started asap! Our Teaching Handbook provides some simple steps to ensure your school hits the ground running. We can also support you with online orientation sessions and offer practical advice for integrating a new programme. 

Can my school use Anima Phonics without buying all the resources?

Your school membership gives every teacher access to our online bank of resources. These can all be downloaded and printed at the click of a button. We also sell professionally printed resources in our online shop (they're anti-bac laminated and we think they're great!), but you can print your own if you prefer. This includes flashcards, decorative wall-friezes and table-top learning aids.

Do we need to buy the books?

The Anima Phonics decodable book series is perfectly aligned to the National Curriculum and the progression of the programme. This means that every book is matched to a phase and a week, and includes only the GPCs taught so far. By choosing Anima Phonics books for your school, you can be certain that you are providing children with fully decodable books every step of the way.

However, we understand that not every school has the budget to transform their school library all in one go. We also don't believe in throwing perfectly good books away! Whilst Ofsted have stated that a mix of reading schemes is less than ideal, we hope they will understand that sourcing new books may be an ongoing process for some schools. If a school can demonstrate that the books they are providing children with are fully decodable, no matter which reading scheme they come from, then this should be enough to satisfy an inspector.

We provide all schools with our Book Assessment Tool, so they can assess and reorder any books they currently have.

"Decodable books make children feel successful from the very beginning. They do not encounter words that include GPCs they have not been taught. If an adult is not present, they are not forced to guess from pictures, the context, the first letters of a word or its shape. Decodable books and texts that children read should run alongside or a little behind the teaching of the GPCs, so that they always feel a sense of achievement when they are asked to read such books." Department for Education, 2021, The Reading Framework.

Lessons

How are phonics lessons delivered?

• Anima Phonics combines stimulating online lessons, vibrant illustrations and engaging classroom materials to provide a simultaneous visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approach to the development of early reading.
• The programme provides a well-balanced combination of teacher-led carpet sessions, interactive resources and printable activities.
• ​Our multi-media delivery allows children to physically engage with the lesson content. Where computer-based resources are used, these are designed to supplement direct teaching by a trained practitioner.
• Each new sound is introduced through a song or poem, with a corresponding mnemonic action.
• Engaging illustrations on the classroom wall frieze and flashcards provide an instant trigger for the sound and action, allowing for speedy recall when reading and writing.
• ​In later units, as new elements of the alphabetic code are introduced, additional learning aids (frieze, flashcards, etc) are updated to ensure that resources used in the classroom always match the GPCs and progression of the programme.
• Fully decodable texts are provided at every stage of the programme, ensuring children have opportunities for daily reading practice using the GPCs they have been taught.
• Letter formation is taught alongside learning the new sound. Children must use different body parts for large scale ‘air-writing’, following Bee as she flies through the sky.
• Our handwriting resources demonstrate correct letter formation, whilst daily writing activities throughout Reception and Key Stage 1 allow children to put their new skills into practice.
• By its nature, the Anima Phonics e-learning platform makes it easy to adapt lessons for online delivery.
• We provide guidance and offer training sessions focussed on how to deliver live or recorded lessons using commercial screen-sharing software. 

Do you stream classes by ability?

Anima Phonics is designed for whole class teaching. We believe that every child has the ability to keep pace with the progression of the programme. Children who are at risk of falling behind, including the lowest attaining 20% of children, should receive extra practice to consolidate and master the content of Anima Phonics. We provide practitioners with guidance on how to identify and support these children so that they maintain pace with the progression of their peers. 

Are there mnemonic actions and songs?

Every phoneme has its own memorable animal mascot and corresponding action. Each action is introduced with a poem. We have started to release songs for each GPC too! We will continue to release new songs throughout 2022. Click the play button beneath each frieze image to hear a preview.

Do you use rhymes or memorable sayings for handwriting?

Yes! These all correspond with our animal mascots and actions, so reading and writing are intrinsically linked. You can preview some of these by clicking the images below.

Do you use colour-coding to support GPC recognition?

We use some simple colour-coding at the beginning of our programme to help children identify GPCs within words. As children move into Year 1, only the focus GPC for that week is colour-coded. In Year 2, the colour-coding is removed. This gradual removal of the extra support prepares children for reading environmental print and for taking their own books home to read.

Do I need an interactive whiteboard to deliver Anima Phonics?

We think our interactive lessons really help to bring phonics to life. Anima Phonics therefore works best if you have an interactive classroom display. Our lessons also work well on laptops or tablets. If you do not have access to these, we provide printable versions of most of our lessons. 

Are there audio resources?

Hear each new phoneme at the click of a button! Throughout Phase 2 and Phase 3, you can click on the grapheme to hear the corresponding phoneme. We also have an interactive Sound Board to share with parents. This works on computers, tablets or smartphones, enabling parents to hear how each phoneme sounds and to support their children at home.

How are common exception words ('tricky words') taught?

There are some common words that must be taught before all GPCs have been introduced. In Anima Phonics, these are known as Rainbow Words. Rainbow Words are introduced systematically throughout the programme, beginning midway through Phase 2.

Children’s attention is drawn to the ‘tricky’ part of the word that does not fit in with what has been taught so far. This enables them to easily identify the grapheme(s) that make the word an exception word, and to consistently apply their blending skills to unknown words.
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As children’s knowledge of the alphabetic code increases, many of these high frequency words will become fully decodable.

Can I try a lesson with my class?

Of course! Sign up for a two-week free trial and you can try some lessons and activities with your children.

Are there Phase 1 lessons for nursery?

We do not provide a set structure for nurseries and pre-schools. We know that not every child attends on the same days and some may join mid-year or only attend mornings or afternoons. For this reason, we provide a selection of resources organised into each letter of the alphabet. This allows practitioners to select the resources that correspond with their own planning and progression.

Memberships Info

What does a school membership package consist of?

Your annual membership provides every member of staff with their own account. This gives everyone access to:

• Detailed planning, activities and resources for every day of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
• Over 1000 activities and worksheets to download and print 
• Interactive lessons and games
• Classroom display resources
• Assessment and tracking materials
• Weekly home spelling scheme that matches the progression of Anima Phonics
• Fully decodable reading materials
• Early Worms - interactive activities and role-play resources for nurseries
• 14-day parent accounts for families required to self-isolate.

How many teacher accounts can we have?

You have an unlimited number of teacher accounts. Each school will have a Lead Member who is responsible for creating accounts for their colleagues. 

Do you provide parent accounts?

Anima Phonics is primarily a teaching programme to be used in school. We provide plenty of resources and activities that can be printed and sent home for additional practice. For families that are required to self-isolate, their class teacher is able to create a temporary 14-day account for them to access the lessons and resources at home.

How much does an annual membership cost?

Our 2022-23 annual subscription fees are based on the number of classes in each year group:

• Half-form entry (15 or less children per year group): £295
• One-form entry: £545
• Two-form entry: £745
• Three-form entry (or more): £945

We are able to provide discounts for multi-academy trusts or groups of schools. Please contact us to discuss.

How can my school sign up?

We require a member of SLT or the finance team to complete our sign up form. We will then create your school account and issue an invoice.

What information do I need to have ready?

You will need to provide:

• Name and address of your school.
• Name and email address of your admin team or finance department (invoices will be sent here).
• Name and email address for your Lead Member (they will be our first point of contact).
• Purchase Order number, if required by your school.

Are you able to provide supplier details?

Yes. Please list your requirements in the 'any other relevant information' section of the sign up form. We can then get back to you with the requested details. Alternatively, get in contact with us to discuss.

Planning and Assessment

Does Anima Phonics provide planning documents?

Yes! We provide detailed planning for every day of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Each day is organised into the same structure:

• Revise and review
• Teach
• Practise
• Apply
• Assess

The planning documents correspond with the web pages, which are neatly organised into weeks and days. No need to create your own plans, resources or worksheets! Simply open the plan, click on the matching web page and print the listed resources.

Can I view the planning?

Sure! Create a trial account and you can view the planning documents for each unit.

Are there assessment materials?

• Anima Phonics provides opportunity for formative and summative assessment at regular intervals, allowing practitioners the chance to quickly target children most in need of support.
• Practitioners are provided with clear learning outcomes for each unit of Anima Phonics, meaning progress can be monitored at regular intervals.
• Learning objectives are clearly communicated at the start of interactive resources or teacher- led activities. This allows children the chance to self-assess against these outcomes.
• Our assessment resources allow practitioners to assess core skills such as grapheme recognition, letter formation, word blending, oral segmenting and sentence recall.
• Our easy-to-use gap analysis tool automatically colour codes each child, providing teachers with clear feedback on who is at risk of falling behind.
• Additionally, our tracker colour-codes each GPC taught, meaning practitioners can use their assessment to inform future planning. 

What is the assessment schedule?

Every unit of Anima Phonics concludes with an assessment of the taught concepts. Download assessment resources and your colour-coded tracker to easily identify those at risk of falling behind.

Can I view the assessment materials?

Sure! Sign up for a trial and you will be able to access assessment materials from across the programme. To find them, go to week 12 of each unit.

Is this a standalone interventions programme?

Anima Phonics is a full synthetic phonics programme designed to be used for whole-class teaching. Our Teaching Handbook outlines how to organise and prepare small-group sessions and 1:1 tuition for those children that require additional support. We provide learning aids for children with additional needs, resources with muted colours and board games designed to target skills like GPC recognition, blending and segmenting.

Training

What training is available?

We currently offer online training sessions hosted on Zoom, including programme orientation and the fundamentals of synthetic phonics.

In early 2023, we will be launching our on-demand video training, based on the DfE's recent Reading Framework. In the following year, we will be launching our face-to-face training sessions, delivered by regional leaders who are experts in Anima Phonics. You can read about our current training options and our plans for the future here.

Is the training optional?

All staff responsible for leading and teaching reading would benefit from our professional development courses: the headteacher, senior leaders, teachers, NQTs, ITT trainees and others. We offer ready-made training sessions or bespoke training packages (launching late-2022) to ensure that your school is set up for continued success. 
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We advise every school to start their membership with a 1hr online orientation session. However, if you have a member of staff already familiar with Anima Phonics, they may be well-suited to share their experience and know-how with their colleagues.

Do you provide training for parents?

Are you hosting a phonics information session for parents? Book our parent webinar and one of our Anima Phonics experts can drop in via Zoom to give an overview of our programme and the principles of synthetic phonics. The presentation lasts for approximately 20 minutes, followed by time for questions. This can either be hosted during school hours or in the evening.

How do I book training for my school?

Get in touch to discuss your requirements or book using our online booking page.

Can the training be recorded?

Sure! If you book a private training session for your school, we'll record the session and send a video file soon after. This enables absent staff members to view the training in their own time. Please note, we do not record our public webinars as these are likely to feature numerous schools and classrooms on camera.

What happens if a staff member joins mid-year?

They can join one of our regular webinars or you can book a bespoke 1:1 orientation session for new staff members.

Who are the Anima Phonics trainers?

The Anima Phonics Training Programme is led by a team of experienced trainers. Each member of our team is an experienced Anima Phonics teacher. They understand the processes that underpin learning to read and have an up-to-date knowledge of the curriculum and recent guidelines and publications. Our trainers draw on their knowledge and experience to ensure that your school has a team of expert phonics teachers. 

Can I join the team?

As the Anima Phonics Training Programme reaches more schools across the country, we are continuing to expand our team. This ensures that we are always able to provide the perfect ratio of dedicated trainers to schools. Right now, we are training a new team of trainers to help teachers deliver outstanding phonics lessons every single time. If you'd like to learn more about joining our team, please get in touch.