01
Hear the sound system
Build phonological and phonemic awareness through rhyme, syllables, oral blending, segmenting, and sound-position work.
For CBSE, ICSE, State Board & International Schools • Ages 3–10
CBSE defines the literacy goal. Tiny Steps builds the implementation pathway.
Bring a systematic, cumulative phonics pathway into your existing timetable—complete with teacher training, classroom content, blending and decoding routines, spelling progression, assessment, and a dedicated learning partner.
Your teachers deliver it. Tiny Steps gives them the sequence, methodology, resources, and year-long support behind it.
CBSE/NCF-aware implementationSystematic & cumulativeFoundation → AdvancedTeacher-led in your schoolResearch-informed
Designed for principals, founders, academic leaders, English heads, and school networks that want transferable decoding ability—not isolated phonics activities.
The core difference
From “we taught phonics” to “our children can use phonics to read”
Curriculum expectation
What children should eventually be able to do
Implementation pathway
What teachers teach first, next, and how they connect it
Transfer check
Can the child decode a word they have never practised before?
Wider Tiny Steps reach
5000+
Children across broader English-learning programmes
Wider global experience
15+ countries
Diverse learner and family contexts
Delivery model
Your teachers
Tiny Steps trains, equips, and supports them
Implementation
Full year
Not a one-time workshop or resource handover
CBSE / NCF clarity
Does CBSE include phonics? Yes.
The challenge is consistent implementation.
NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage explicitly includes phonological awareness, blending and segmenting, letter–sound relationships, decoding, and reading fluency. It defines decoding as connecting sounds with individual letters and letter combinations and blending those sounds to read the whole word.
It also says that, in English, phonics instruction means paying attention to specific letter combinations that represent sounds—not simply introducing the alphabet sequentially.
The important distinction
Framework
Defines the destination
Competencies, principles, and learning outcomes children should develop.
Implementation system
Builds the route
Sequence, lessons, modelling, practice, assessment, reteaching, and teacher capability.
Tiny Steps does not replace CBSE or NCERT. We help schools translate foundational-literacy expectations into consistent classroom practice.
The Tiny Steps implementation pathway
One connected journey from sound awareness to independent reading
The sequence is protected. Each stage builds on what children have already learned, and previously taught knowledge keeps returning in new reading and spelling contexts.
02
Connect sounds to print
Establish accurate letter–sound and grapheme–phoneme relationships with clear modelling and cumulative recall.
03
Blend into real words
Move from oral blending to printed CVC words and increasingly complex sound–spelling combinations.
04
Segment for spelling
Teach children to hear the phonemes in spoken words and map them back to letters and spelling patterns.
05
Master core phonics patterns
Progress through digraphs, consonant patterns, long-vowel patterns, vowel teams, r-controlled patterns, and high-utility conventions.
06
Build spelling-rule knowledge
Connect decoding with encoding so children understand why many English words are read and spelled the way they are.
07
Tackle advanced word structures
Extend into syllables, multisyllabic words, advanced vowel patterns, silent-letter patterns, schwa, and word analysis.
08
Read cumulatively
Apply only-known and newly taught patterns in words, sentences, passages, dictation, and connected reading.
09
Check transfer, not memory
Assess whether children can decode unfamiliar words, segment for spelling, read connected text, and explain or apply patterns independently.
10
Build fluent, independent readers
Use secure decoding and spelling foundations to strengthen accuracy, fluency, comprehension, writing, and reading confidence.
The transfer question
Can the child decode a word they have never seen before?
That question helps distinguish transferable decoding knowledge from simple familiarity with practised textbook words or weekly spelling lists.
Curriculum ≠ methodology
A learning outcome is not yet a classroom system
Schools can have the right curriculum direction and still experience inconsistent delivery when the teaching sequence, specialist knowledge, practice routines, and assessment process are not protected.
| What the framework expects | What schools still have to operationalise | How Tiny Steps supports implementation |
|---|---|---|
NCF/CBSE expectation Children should develop phonological awareness, blending, segmenting, decoding, reading fluency, and literacy capability. | Decide the scope, progression, classroom routines, teacher preparation, practice density, correction method, and evidence of mastery. | A protected, grade-wise phonics scope and sequence that converts broad expectations into teachable daily steps. |
Letter combinations in English NCF explicitly notes that English phonics involves attention to specific letter combinations that represent sounds. | Decide the scope, progression, classroom routines, teacher preparation, practice density, correction method, and evidence of mastery. | A cumulative progression across major phonics and spelling patterns rather than alphabet-only or isolated-rule teaching. |
Explicit decoding instruction NCF calls for explicit letter–sound instruction, word decoding, spelling, segmenting, and blending. | Decide the scope, progression, classroom routines, teacher preparation, practice density, correction method, and evidence of mastery. | Teacher scripts, modelling routines, guided practice, correction methods, review cycles, and classroom-ready resources. |
Visible learning outcomes A framework describes competencies and learning outcomes, but schools still need implementation choices and sequencing. | Decide the scope, progression, classroom routines, teacher preparation, practice density, correction method, and evidence of mastery. | Baseline checks, checkpoints, reteaching decisions, classroom coaching, and leadership reviews across the academic year. |
The problem we solve is the implementation gap—not the existence of the curriculum.
When phonics is reduced to alphabet sounds, isolated rules, familiar word lists, mixed worksheets, or one-off workshops, children can appear successful while still depending heavily on memory. A systematic pathway aims for independent transfer.
What your school receives
More than content: a complete implementation system
Curriculum, teacher capability, classroom routines, assessment, and ongoing help work together so the school’s own teachers can deliver phonics consistently.
Foundation-to-advanced phonics progression
A systematic, cumulative pathway covering phonological awareness, grapheme–phoneme relationships, blending, segmenting, decoding, spelling patterns, fluency, and early writing.
Classroom-ready digital and print content
Teacher-led lesson decks, interactive practice, word work, handwriting, reading, spelling, revision cycles, worksheets, and quick checks.
Live teacher capability building
Progressive teacher training and rehearsal labs led by Tiny Steps trainers, with practical modelling, correction routines, and delivery practice.
Assessment and reteaching guidance
Baseline, checkpoint, and end-of-cycle guidance across sound knowledge, blending, segmenting, decoding, spelling, and fluency.
Dedicated learning partner
One Tiny Steps partner coordinates teacher readiness, delivery check-ins, content clarifications, school-recorded progress reviews, and leadership updates.
Leadership and parent communication
Implementation plans, progress-review templates, parent orientation guidance, and clearer language for explaining visible reading development.
International benchmark
Research-informed. Internationally benchmarked principles. Built for school implementation.
England’s Department for Education criteria for complete systematic synthetic phonics programmes provide a useful external benchmark: a clearly defined incremental sequence, progression from simple to more complex phonics knowledge, blending, segmenting, spelling practice, ongoing assessment, and high-quality teacher training.
Tiny Steps uses these kinds of recognised principles as a benchmark for programme quality. We do not claim UK DfE validation, certification, or endorsement.
Review the DfE criteriaA complete systematic programme should make these visible:
A clearly defined, incremental progression
Simple-to-complex phonics knowledge taught cumulatively
Blending through the whole printed word
Segmenting as the reverse process for spelling
Practice in words, sentences, reading, and dictation
Frequent assessment and extra support for children falling behind
High-quality training for the people delivering phonics
The enrolment business case
Visible reading progress strengthens parent confidence
In the Early Years, Pre-Primary and Lower Primary stages, families often evaluate the quality of schooling through the progress they can observe in their child’s reading, blending, spelling, and writing. Report-card scores matter, but visible literacy development gives parents clearer evidence that classroom learning is becoming lasting capability.
Demonstrable reading progress can strengthen parent trust, support continued enrolment, and encourage positive recommendations within the school community.
Strong early literacy is not only an academic priority. It is part of the trust a school builds with every family.
How visible progress supports school leadership
- Parent confidenceClear, observable progress helps families understand the value being created in the classroom.
- Continued enrolmentWhen parents can see their child becoming a more confident reader, they have stronger reasons to continue their relationship with the school.
- Reputation and referralsConsistent literacy development contributes to a stronger academic reputation and more credible parent-to-parent advocacy.
- Leadership visibilityA structured review process gives school leaders clearer insight into programme delivery, teacher readiness, and learner progression.
School partnership pricing
Clear annual options for every stage of rollout
Choose a focused launch, a complete whole-school pathway, or a coordinated multi-campus rollout. Every annual option includes the agreed licence, teacher enablement, implementation reviews, and a dedicated learning partner.
Focused Launch Licence
Start with one school stage or one selected phonics pathway.
₹59,000
+ GST • one campus • one academic year
- One selected phonics pathway
- Up to 5 teachers and 150 learners
- Progressive teacher training and rehearsal labs led by Tiny Steps trainers
- Classroom content and print licence
- Dedicated learning partner and monthly office hour
- Year-long quarterly progress reviews with school leadership
Best for full rollout
Whole-School Partnership
Build one consistent phonics approach across Early Years, Pre-Primary, and Lower Primary.
₹1.49 lakh
+ GST • one campus • one academic year
- Complete foundation-to-advanced pathway
- Up to 12 teachers and 400 learners
- Progressive teacher training and rehearsal labs led by Tiny Steps trainers
- All teaching, practice, and assessment resources
- Dedicated learning partner and monthly coaching
- Year-long quarterly progress reviews with school leadership
Multi-Campus Partnership
Coordinate training and implementation across an agreed school network.
₹2.99 lakh
+ GST • up to 3 campuses • one academic year
- Scope for up to 3 campuses
- Up to 25 teachers and 900 learners
- Progressive teacher training and rehearsal labs led by Tiny Steps trainers
- Central coordinator enablement with a shared rollout and reporting framework
- Dedicated learning partner and campus reviews
- Year-long quarterly progress reviews with school leadership
Prefer to validate the model first?
Eight-week pilot • one selected grade • up to four teachers • up to 60 learners • ₹24,900 + GST. Confirm an annual partnership within 30 days of the review and the pilot fee is credited in full.
Primary sources
Curriculum and benchmark references used on this page
We separate official curriculum statements from Tiny Steps programme design claims so school leaders can verify the underlying evidence.
NCERT
National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage 2022
See language/literacy competencies and decoding instruction, including pages 62, 114, and 115 in the PDF edition.
CBSE
Foundational Stage & Holistic Progress Card resources
CBSE’s current resource hub links schools to NCFFS 2022 and Foundational Stage implementation material.
International benchmark
UK DfE systematic synthetic phonics criteria
Used only as an external benchmark for programme completeness; Tiny Steps does not claim DfE validation.
Curriculum references reviewed: 10 August 2026.
School partnership FAQs
Direct answers for principals, academic teams, search engines, and AI assistants
Each answer starts with the conclusion and then adds the implementation context school leaders need.
Does CBSE include phonics in the foundational curriculum?
Yes. NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage includes phonological awareness, blending, segmenting, decoding, letter–sound relationships, reading fluency, and explicit attention to letter combinations in English. Tiny Steps therefore does not position phonics as absent from CBSE; we focus on the implementation pathway schools need to teach these competencies systematically.
What does NCF say about blending and decoding?
NCF-FS defines decoding as sounding out written words by connecting symbols with sounds, including individual letters and letter combinations, and blending those sounds to read the whole word. It also calls for explicit decoding and spelling instruction using segmenting and blending.
Does CBSE prescribe every phonics rule and the exact order teachers should teach them?
The foundational framework sets competencies, principles, and illustrative learning outcomes, but it is not an exhaustive lesson-by-lesson phonics programme listing every English grapheme, spelling pattern, rule, practice routine, and assessment checkpoint in a single mandated sequence. Schools therefore still need to make detailed implementation and sequencing choices.
If CBSE already includes phonics, why would a CBSE school need Tiny Steps?
Because defining the desired learning outcome is different from having a complete delivery system. Tiny Steps supplies a protected phonics scope and sequence, classroom methodology, teacher training, digital and print resources, assessments, reteaching guidance, and year-long implementation support.
Why are alphabet sounds alone not enough to teach children to read?
Knowing individual letter sounds is an important foundation, but reading also requires children to blend sounds through words, recognise increasingly complex letter combinations, decode unfamiliar words, segment words for spelling, and apply the same knowledge in connected text.
What is the difference between memorising a word and decoding a word?
Memorisation helps a child recognise a word they have encountered before. Decoding helps the child use sound–spelling relationships to work through an unfamiliar printed word. A strong phonics system aims to build transferable decoding skill, not dependence on remembering whole word shapes.
What does systematic phonics mean?
Systematic phonics teaches sound–spelling relationships in a planned order so that new learning builds on previously taught knowledge. Children are not exposed to rules randomly; the sequence is designed to move from simpler knowledge to more complex patterns.
What does cumulative phonics instruction mean?
Cumulative instruction keeps previously taught sounds and patterns active while new concepts are introduced. Children repeatedly retrieve, combine, read, spell, and apply earlier knowledge instead of treating every new rule as an isolated lesson.
Does Tiny Steps replace the school’s CBSE or English curriculum?
No. Tiny Steps sits alongside the existing English curriculum as a structured phonics and foundational-reading implementation system. The school keeps its board, textbooks, timetable, and teachers; Tiny Steps strengthens the methodology behind early reading and spelling instruction.
Is Tiny Steps an officially CBSE-endorsed or government-approved phonics programme?
No. Tiny Steps is an independent education provider. We reference official curriculum expectations and design our programme to complement school curricula, but compatibility does not mean CBSE, NCERT, government, Cambridge, IB, or publisher endorsement.
What does internationally benchmarked mean on this page?
It means Tiny Steps compares its design principles with recognised international expectations for complete systematic phonics programmes—such as clearly defined progression, cumulative complexity, blending, segmenting, spelling practice, assessment, and teacher training. It does not mean Tiny Steps has been validated or certified by the UK Department for Education.
What makes the Tiny Steps phonics pathway comprehensive?
The pathway moves from phonological awareness and sound–symbol knowledge into blending, segmenting, CVC structures, major letter combinations, spelling conventions, long-vowel and vowel-team patterns, advanced word structures, syllables, fluency, and connected reading and writing. The exact school rollout is matched to baseline needs and available timetable.
How can a school tell whether children are decoding rather than memorising?
Ask children to read carefully selected unfamiliar words and apply previously taught sound–spelling patterns. Assessment should also check phoneme awareness, blending, segmenting, spelling, connected-text reading, and transfer—not only recognition of words already practised in class.
Do classroom teachers need specialist phonics training?
Yes. Strong English and general teaching experience are valuable, but effective phonics delivery also requires knowledge of phonemes, graphemes, blending, segmenting, decoding, encoding, spelling patterns, error diagnosis, correction routines, and cumulative lesson design.
What teacher training is included?
Progressive teacher training and rehearsal labs cover phonemic awareness, sound-to-symbol teaching, blending and segmenting, correction routines, lesson delivery, assessment, and classroom practice. The scope and cadence are confirmed in the school’s written proposal.
How is student progress measured?
Schools receive baseline, checkpoint, and end-of-cycle assessment guidance across sound knowledge, blending, segmenting, decoding, spelling, and fluency. Leadership reviews focus on cohort patterns, transfer of learning, and practical next steps rather than marks alone.
How can visible reading progress support enrolment and reputation?
Schools can strengthen parent confidence by making learner progress easier to understand. In Early Years, Pre-Primary and Lower Primary, observable development in reading, blending, spelling and writing gives families clearer evidence of classroom learning. A structured phonics programme, supported by teacher training and regular academic review, can support continued enrolment and contribute to a strong school reputation and credible parent recommendations.
How much does the school phonics partnership cost?
Annual school partnership pricing starts at ₹59,000 plus GST per campus for a focused launch licence. The complete whole-school partnership is ₹1.49 lakh plus GST per campus. The multi-campus partnership is ₹2.99 lakh plus GST for the base scope of up to three campuses.
Can we test the approach before an annual partnership?
Yes. An eight-week school pilot is available at ₹24,900 plus GST for one selected grade, up to four teachers, and up to 60 learners. If the school upgrades within 30 days of the pilot review, the pilot fee is credited toward the annual partnership.
Can international schools outside India partner with Tiny Steps?
Yes. Training and support can be delivered online across time zones. International proposals are quoted after the timetable, teacher count, campus scope, and implementation needs are confirmed.
Build the implementation pathway inside your own school
Tell us your board, grades, teacher count, learner count, current phonics approach, and preferred launch month. We will recommend the most practical pilot or annual partnership and send a written proposal. Email Priya@tinystepslearning.com or speak with the partnership team.
Curriculum direction matters. Consistent implementation is what children experience every day.
Tiny Steps brings the scope, sequence, teacher capability, practice system, assessment, and continued academic support together so schools can build stronger early readers with their own teachers.
CBSE defines foundational-literacy outcomes. Tiny Steps builds the implementation pathway.