cald (called) sed (said), gose (goes)
are all logical spellings - cf. bald, bed, nose.
The majority of reading and spelling problems are caused by the inconsistencies of English spelling.
'Higher order phonics' for reading appears to mean mainly the teaching alternative pronunciations for sounds, in addition to the main ones,
e.g. on, not, spot ... - other, brother, mother... to, do, who...
so that when children can't decode a word with basic phonics, they try out the alternatives, instead of just guessing.
For reading this can be quite helpful, although the likes of 'other, brother...' are really just tricky words which the best readers tend to learn more efficiently by sight, with repeated exposure, as they eventually do with all words.
Some advocates of phonics call the teaching of alternative spellings 'higher order phonics' too, but knowing that, for example, the ee sound can be spelt as in 'speak, seek, shriek' is of little help in remembering which one applies to a particular word. Hundreds of vowel spellings just have to be imprinted on children's minds word by word. That's what makes learning to write English difficult and extremely time-consuming for most pupils.
Masha Bell