Although the online course lasts 6 weeks in total, Weeks 1 - 4 cover the main content.

Week 0 is for familiarising yourself and introductions, and Week 5 is set aside for you to have time to wrap up and revisit any sections you may want to look over again.

 

The structure of the course follows the same sequence as the 4-day intensive face-to-face training we run in the south-west of Western Australia.

Online Week 0 or F2F Day 1: Introduction 

• Welcome
• What is Sounds-Write
• Course structure and schedule
• Finding your way around the platform
• Course resources, activities, and forums
• To pass the course
• Introduction to the manual
• Introducing the course team

• Now it's your turn!
 

​​Online Week 1 or F2F Day 1: Theory, IC
• Theoretical underpinnings
• How to use the lessons?
• Introduction to the Initial Code
• Initial Code: Lesson 1
• Sounds-Write in a nutshell (revisited)
• Review, practice, and assessment

 

Online Week 2 or F2F Day 2: IC
• Introduction
• Review
• Phonics and whole language
• Initial Code: Lesson 1, Error correction
• Initial Code: Lesson 2, Symbol search
• Initial Code: Lesson 3
• Initial Code: Lesson 4
• Initial Code: Lesson 5
• Differentiation
• Diagnostics
• Small group lesson
• Initial Code: A planning session
• Review, practice, and assessment

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4 Day Face-to-Face Training

When attending a 4-day Face-to-Face training, you take time off your normal schedule and spend dedicated time on the course. When you do an online course, it is very easy to carry on with your life as normal and to just try and fit the online course in the spare bits of time you might have. We know from experience that if you don't schedule time for your online course, everything else will take priority, and this will only stress you out at the end of the week when you realise you haven't made time for the course and the deadline is looming.

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Sounds-Write 6-week online: Special information for online participants:

​​A cohort of trainees will take the course with you. The course will be led by one or more Sounds-Write trainers. Trainers will answer your questions, provide feedback on assignments, and organise five online synchronous sessions on Zoom to support you during the course (see below).
 

Structure of the course and time commitment:
Over the six weeks of the course, participants will need to spend a substantial amount of time studying this course to make the most of the training. 

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PLEASE NOTE: We strongly recommend that you consider how you would block out 6-8 hours for each of the 4 middle weeks of the course that are the most demanding.

 

It is important that you discuss with your school or line manager the time commitment for the course and agree on how and when you will have time to do the course. We strongly discourage you from trying to fit the course around your other duties during a busy school or workday, such as in your lunchtime. It is important that you plan so that you will have quality time to concentrate on the course, as it is demanding and will require active engagement on your part.
 

Week 0: approximately 1 hour of work: this is mainly to enable you to find your way around the platform, introduce yourself, and meet your trainer and other trainees. The course includes a discussion forum where you will be able to ask questions and where you will contribute to some course discussions.

 

Weeks 1-4: approximately 6-8 hours of work per week. Each week will be made available on a consecutive Saturday. You will have to cover the content of that week during that week, as the following Saturday the new week’s content will be available, and you will have to move on to that new content. You will also need to complete all the assessment tasks for each week by the end of that week.

 

Week 5: approximately 2 hours of work: this week has no formal new content, but you will be able to revisit anything in the course before the course closes. At the end of week 5, the course website will close, and you will no longer have access to the online course.

 

Each of Weeks 0 to 4 will have a synchronised Zoom session during the course. The time for these sessions will be organised individually by trainers on the course. They will include specific practical presentations and time for live Q&A to help you consolidate your understanding. For those who cannot attend the live sessions, these will be recorded and made available to all during the course. You will receive information about the date and time for these sessions, and joining instructions, closer to the time. The information will be posted in the course discussion forum.

 

Passing the online course

To pass the course and get a course certificate, you will need to complete and pass the weekly assignments, including all the quizzes that check your understanding of the material. In addition, there are self-assessment tasks and practice tasks. For the practice tasks, you will need to video yourself practising a Sounds- Write activity and share the recording link with your Trainer, who will give you feedback and let you know if your presentation passes the assessment criteria. If your video assignment fails the criteria, your Trainer may ask you to redo the assignment. If you fail to achieve the overall average of 85% to pass the course, you will have the opportunity to do an additional assignment when the course finishes. 

 

Please note that a small number of headteachers have asked to be notified of whether staff from their schools are progressing successfully. We will let you know if we are providing your headteacher with any information about your progress and copy you into it.
 

Equipment
To access the course and do the course activities, you will need access to a PC or laptop (including Mac). You should not do the course on your phone or on a tablet, as some of the quiz activities will not work well. Your computer should have Chrome or Firefox as the preferred browsers (please note that the course will not be fully functional with Microsoft Edge, and that you might not be able to complete parts of the course if this is your only available browser.

 

If you are accessing the course website from work, it is your responsibility to check with your IT manager that the firewall at your school/workplace will enable you to access external content, i.e. the content from our course platform.

 

You will need a notebook to write in, and it is important you take notes on the course as you go along. We will send you a small whiteboard and a whiteboard pen with the manual, but you will also need some Post Its and some sheets of paper for some of the activities. For some activities, you will need to video yourself. You can use the camera on your laptop or mobile phone.

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The Sounds-Write manual
Before the course starts, people undertaking the online course will be sent a manual to the school or employer who is paying for the course. In the case of individuals, we will use your postal address to dispatch the Sounds-Write manual, so you should receive it in plenty of time. Please email us ASAP before the course starts to let us know if you have NOT received the manual, or if it’s been damaged in the post; we will replace it.

 

Together with the manual, you will receive a set of worksheets to use during the training. Please keep these safe, as we will not be able to send you replacements except in exceptional circumstances.

 

NOTE: If you receive the manual and then are not able to attend the online course or are obliged to withdraw, you may transfer to another course being held within 3 months. If, however, there is no available course within that time-frame or you are unable to attend, YOU MUST RETURN the manual and materials at your own cost. Please see our Terms and Conditions regarding transfers.