Sounds-Write Extended Code: What Comes After the Initial Code
The Extended Code is the second and much larger half of Sounds-Write. It runs to roughly 49 units across Years 1 and 2, and its job is to teach that a sound your child already knows can be written in more than one way. The Initial Code, taught across Reception in 11 units, gave them one spelling per sound. The Extended Code gives them the rest of English.
If your child has finished the Initial Code and the work suddenly looks different, this is why. The change is not a step up in difficulty so much as a step sideways in what is being learned.
What is the Sounds-Write Extended Code?
Sounds-Write splits into two halves. The Initial Code is 11 units and sits in Reception. The Extended Code is about 49 units and sits in Years 1 and 2. It covers the vowel digraphs and the alternative spellings.
The unit count alone tells you something. Reception's 11 units are the foundation; the Extended Code is the building. It is normal for a child to spend two school years in it, and normal for progress to feel less visible than it did in Reception.
What was in the Initial Code?
Worth a quick recap, because the Extended Code only makes sense against it.
| Unit | What is taught |
|---|---|
| 1 | a i m s t, in CVC words |
| 2 | n o p |
| 3 | b c g h |
| 4 | d e f v |
| 5 | k l r u |
| 6 | j w z |
| 7 | x y, plus the doubles ff ll ss zz |
| 8 | No new sounds. VCC and CVCC words, ending in two consonants |
| 9 | No new sounds. CCVC words, starting with two consonants |
| 10 | No new sounds. CCVCC, CVCCC and CCCVC words |
| 11 | The digraphs sh ch th ck wh ng qu |
Notice that Units 8 to 10 introduce no new sounds at all. They are about handling consonants that sit next to each other, which is a separate skill from knowing sounds. Our guide to the Sounds-Write Initial Code goes through all eleven in detail.
How is the Extended Code different?
In the Initial Code, each sound arrives with one way of writing it. That is a simplification, and everybody knows it is a simplification, but it lets a child get reading quickly.
The Extended Code removes the simplification. It works through the vowel digraphs and the alternative spellings, so a child who knew one way to write a sound learns the others. The sounds are not new. The spellings are.
This is the source of most parental confusion at the start of Year 1. Nothing looks harder on the page, and yet a child who was flying can slow down, because they now have to choose.
Why does Sounds-Write talk about sounds and spellings?
Because it is a linguistic phonics approach. It starts from the sounds of spoken English and asks how each one is written, rather than starting from letters and asking what noise they make. Children are taught to use the words sound and spelling, and the vocabulary is doing real work.
Four ideas run through the whole programme, and they matter more in the Extended Code than anywhere else:
- A sound can be written in more than one way.
- A spelling can represent more than one sound.
- A sound can be written with one letter, two, three, and in a few words four.
- Blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation are skills, and skills need practice.
Once you have those four, English stops looking irregular and starts looking merely complicated, which is a far more manageable thing for a six year old to face.
The Extended Code does not teach new sounds. It teaches your child that the sounds they already have can wear different clothes.
How long should the Extended Code take?
Two school years, broadly. Years 1 and 2. That is a long stretch with no dramatic milestones in it, and it is the main reason parents come looking for reassurance.
What you should see over that period is speed. A child in the Extended Code reads more words without stopping, recovers faster when they do stop, and stops sounding out words they have met before. Those are the gains. They are real, and they are hard to spot week by week.
Why are reading and spelling taught together?
Because in Sounds-Write they are two directions of the same journey, and they have been taught together since Unit 1 of the Initial Code. Reading takes spellings and turns them into sounds. Spelling takes sounds and turns them into spellings.
In the Extended Code this pairing earns its keep. A child who knows several ways to write a sound has a genuine choice to make when writing, and making that choice badly, then correcting it, is how the right one gets learned. Expect more crossings out in Year 1 than in Reception. That is the work happening.
Where does my child sit compared with other schemes?
If you have friends at other schools, the vocabulary will not match. This is roughly where a Year 1 child sits across the common programmes.
| Scheme | Year 1 equivalent |
|---|---|
| Sounds-Write | Extended Code |
| Little Wandle | Year 1, Phase 5 |
| Read Write Inc | Set 3, with Pink, Orange and Yellow storybooks |
| Bug Club Phonics | Blue 1 and Blue 2 |
| Letters and Sounds | Phase 5 |
| Essential Letters and Sounds | Phase 5 |
| Twinkl Phonics | Level 5 |
| Jolly Phonics | Beyond the 42 sounds |
They are all doing the same job under different names: alternative spellings for sounds that are already known. Our piece on phonics books for Year 1 covers what to expect from the books themselves.
How do I know my school is using Sounds-Write at all?
The vocabulary gives it away. If the book bag or the reading record mentions the Initial Code, the Extended Code, or a unit number, that is Sounds-Write. Other schemes use different markers: sets and a frog called Fred mean Read Write Inc, a colour with a number after it means Bug Club, a phase number with a term beside it means Little Wandle, and a bare level between 1 and 6 usually means Twinkl.
It is worth being sure, because buying books for the wrong progression is an easy and expensive mistake. If you are not certain, ask the office for the name of the programme, or work it out from the clues in our guide to identifying your school's phonics scheme. Schools answer this question several times a week and nobody minds being asked.
What should I do at home, and what if my child seems stuck?
Less than you think, and more consistently. When your child stops on a word, wait five seconds before helping. Most children get there at about four, and the four seconds are where the learning is.
If they are still stuck, give the sounds rather than the word. Saying s-t-o-p hands them the win; saying "it's stop" hands them nothing. In the Extended Code a useful extra move is to name the spelling: point at the two or three letters making one sound and say what that sound is, then let them blend the word themselves.
Stop while they still want more. And keep reading aloud to them from books far harder than anything they can decode, because vocabulary and comprehension are built on that track, not this one.
Stuck in the Extended Code usually looks like inconsistency rather than failure: a word read correctly on Monday and missed on Thursday. That is normal while alternative spellings are settling.
The number worth watching is how often they stop. Stopping on more than about one word in ten means the book is too hard for independent reading today, whatever level is printed on it. Read it together instead, taking alternate pages.
If the pattern persists across weeks, or reading is becoming upsetting, that is worth raising with the teacher. It is not something to diagnose at home.
The Year 1 phonics screening check
It falls in June of Year 1, in the middle of the Extended Code. A child reads 40 words aloud to a teacher, one to one: 20 real words and 20 made-up ones, the made-up ones printed beside a small alien.
The made-up words are the point. They cannot be recognised from memory or guessed from a picture, so they test decoding only. A threshold mark is published each June; it has been 32 out of 40 for many years, though it is set annually rather than fixed. Headteachers must report the score to parents by the end of the summer term, and children who do not meet the standard are considered for a retake the following June with support in between.
Where Lindo Phonics fits
Lindo makes personalised decodable storybooks that follow a scheme's published progression. Choose Sounds-Write, pick Initial or Extended Code, add your child's name, and the story stays inside the spellings they have been taught.
That is the whole idea behind decodable books: decodable describes the fit between a book and one particular child, not a property of the book itself. The programme's own site is at Sounds-Write.
Lindo Phonics is not connected to Sounds-Write and is not endorsed by them. We match the published progression so a story only uses sounds your child has already been taught.
Common questions
What is the Sounds-Write Extended Code?
It is the second half of the Sounds-Write programme, about 49 units taught across Years 1 and 2. It covers vowel digraphs and alternative spellings for sounds children already know.
How many units are in the Extended Code?
Roughly 49, compared with 11 in the Initial Code. That is why it takes two school years rather than one, and why progress through it feels slower.
When does my child start the Extended Code?
Usually at the start of Year 1, once the 11 Initial Code units have been completed in Reception. Schools vary a little in exactly when they make the move.
Does the Extended Code teach new sounds?
Not new sounds so much as new ways of writing sounds your child already knows. That is the central idea of the whole half of the programme.
Why has my child slowed down in Year 1?
Because they now have to choose between spellings rather than apply the one they were given. Inconsistency while that settles is normal and usually resolves with mileage.
What does linguistic phonics mean?
It means starting from the sounds of spoken English and asking how each is written, rather than starting from letters and asking what they say. Sounds-Write children talk about sounds and spellings rather than letter names.
Why does Sounds-Write teach reading and spelling together?
Because they are the same knowledge used in two directions, and they have been paired since Unit 1. Choosing a spelling when writing is how a child learns which spelling belongs to which word.
How do I help when my child gets stuck on a word?
Wait five seconds first; most children get there at about four. Then give the sounds rather than the word, and in the Extended Code point at the two or three letters making one sound and name it.
What is the difference between the Initial Code and the Extended Code?
The Initial Code gives one spelling per sound so a child can start reading fast. The Extended Code removes that simplification and teaches the alternatives.
Do Units 8 to 10 of the Initial Code teach new sounds?
No. They deal with consonants sitting next to each other, in words such as lamp, stop and strap. It is a different skill from learning new sounds and it is often mistaken for stalling.
Where does the Extended Code sit compared with other schemes?
Roughly alongside Little Wandle Year 1, Read Write Inc Set 3, Bug Club Blue, Letters and Sounds Phase 5 and Twinkl Level 5. All of them are teaching alternative spellings at that point.
How does the Extended Code relate to the Year 1 screening check?
The check falls in June of Year 1, partway through the Extended Code. It is 40 words read aloud, 20 real and 20 made up, and the made-up words test decoding rather than memory.
How much should I read with my child at home?
A few minutes of their own reading, kept easy enough that they stop on fewer than about one word in ten, and stopped while they still want more. Then read aloud to them from something much harder.
What if the inconsistency does not settle?
If it persists across weeks, or reading is becoming upsetting, raise it with the teacher. It is a conversation for school rather than something to work out at home.
A Sounds-Write story at your child's stage
Pick Initial or Extended Code, add your child's name, and get a decodable story built from the spellings they have already been taught.
Make a Sounds-Write story First book free. No card needed.