• THRASS stands for Teaching Handwriting, Reading And Spelling Skills.
• THRASS is a whole-school synthetic phonics programme for teaching learners of all ages and abilities using pictures and keywords. The programme has 10 Features, 4 Phases and 10 Stages.
• THRASS helps learners to understand the building blocks of the English language. It teaches them about the 44 phonemes (speech sounds) of spoken English and the 120 graphemes (spelling choices) of written English.
• THRASS teaches learners that, basically, when spelling we change phonemes to graphemes and when reading we change graphemes to phonemes.
• THRASS uses a multi-sensory (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic) approach to teach meta-cognitive strategies (thinking skills) that empower learners with lifelong word-solving skills. 

Why use THRASS?

• The final report of the Rose Review into how young children should be taught to read commissioned by the UK Government recommends that they should be taught using synthetic phonics.
• THRASS meets all the Criteria for a Good Phonics Programme published by the UK Department for Education and Skills and THRASS offers even more: THRASS names letters and is able to introduce capital letters from the earliest stages of learning and THRASS provides an extensive picture-based training website with easy access to a wide range of resources and support materials.
• Using THRASS in a balanced language curriculum can more than double the normal rate of progress for learning reading and spelling for primary and secondary school children and also for dyslexics and those for whom English is not their first language.
• THRASS is the ultimate code-breaker, described by many teachers as “the key that unlocks the door to our language”.

Where THRASS is used

• THRASS UK has built a reputation for providing high quality Professional Development Courses in many countries and THRASS resources are used by teachers, teaching assistants, parents, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists in thousands of nurseries, schools, colleges and universities.
• There is currently very strong demand for THRASS in Southern Africa where it is taught in all types of schools, ranging from schools with very few resources such as the Kwena Basin Farm Schools to preparatory schools such as
  St Peter’s Preparatory School.

What teachers, assistants and parents say about THRASS

• THRASS has made a very positive impression on teachers, assistants and parents in many countries and a selection of their comments can be viewed at Very Positive Impressions.

Where to see THRASS in action

• A range of interviews, features and demonstration lessons, filmed in both Africa and the UK, can be found in the videos that can be downloaded from the THRASS Audio Video Centre. In particular, the THRASS School Video Diary and the videos in THRASS in Africa show just how much fun THRASS can be and the exceptional level of commitment of all involved.
• Each of the ten features and ten stages of the THRASS programme, shown on this website, is accompanied by a short demonstration video.
  Short Clips for the 10 FEATURES
  Short Clips for the 10 STAGES

Resources to help teachers, assistants and parents

• This THRASS website is a picture-based training website, primarily for teachers, teaching assistants and parents but also for speech therapists, psychologists and students of English.
• T-60: THRASS 15 Minutes a Day X 2 is a four-year scheme of work primarily for children aged 4-7 years who have English as their first language but can be adapted to suit additional language learners and learners with a disability. It is based on the essential teaching guide
  T-50: TEACHING THRASS
• Parents and teachers can easily gain a good understanding of THRASS by using the THRASS Phoneme Machine, a groundbreaking computer programme that uses the International Phonetic Alphabet and moving human lips to demonstrate the pronunciation of sounds and hundreds of frequently used English words.
• THRASS Calendar Charts are available to help teachers, assistants, parents and children with early language learning. Hard copies of the charts are available in English and several other European and African languages. 
• The latest version of the Phoneme Machine also includes interactive Calendar Charts for several African, Asian and European languages with children’s voices saying the seven days, the thirty-one dates, the twelve months, the numbers from one to twenty, the ten main colours and the names of the twenty-six lower-case letters (and their associated capitals).

Other Key Resources for Parents are:

• T-59: THRASS ‘4 SUPPORT’ Pack
• T-03: THRASS Picturechart (Desk)
• T-51: Raps and Sequences CD
• T-07: THRASS-IT CD (PC)

Other Key Resources for Schools are:

• T-01 THRASS Resource File
• T-02: THRASS Picturechart (Class)
• T-04: THRASS Graphemechart
• T-19: Word Level Workchart

• A range of free resources including free materials, articles, documents, newspaper cuttings and music can be found in DOWNLOADS.

Training courses for teachers, assistants and parents

• Over the years THRASS UK has built a reputation for providing high quality training courses in many countries. There are many thousands of very positive evaluations, from hundreds of courses, in the Professional Development Courses section of this website (the link is at the foot of every page) - amassed from over a decade of professional training courses.
• For details of courses for teachers click on Professional Development Courses.
• For details of courses for parents click on Accredited Certificate for Parents. This section of the site also includes two videos of a parents’ course held at Oxley Park Primary School, Milton Keynes.
• A FREE email course for teachers, assistants and parents is available at THRASS-Tips Email Course.

Licensed Territory

• THRASS UK is licensed to serve the blue territory on the World Map