A pupil raises his hand to pronounce a phonics sound.

Launching tuition in phonics

Following a successful pilot in phonics, we are now supporting Reception and KS1 pupils

Published: 04/09/2024

Time to read: 4 mins

We’ve trialled tuition in phonics over the last 12 months and are including it in our core offer from September 2024

Designed to support our youngest learners in Reception and Key Stage 1, phonics tuition provides pupils with the additional support needed to succeed in the statutory Phonics Screening Check.

The children who are now entering Reception and Key Stage 1 are ‘lockdown babies’, and spent much of their first few years without the social and learning experiences that older children may have had. This is further indication that the impact of learning lost to the pandemic is continuing to be felt, and is even more true of children from lower-income communities.

A report from the Department for Education (DfE) found that, in 2022/2023, expected levels in the early learning goals for pupils at age 5 who were entitled to free school meals versus pupils who weren’t differed by 20.2% (49.7% versus 69.9%). There are geographical disparities too; in 2023, Manchester had the joint lowest rate of pupils meeting the expected standard in the Phonics Screening Check (74%), while London had the highest at 80%.

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language."

National Literacy Trust

Our phonics pilot programme in 2023/2024:

3400 +

Hours of phonics delivered
241

Pupils received tuition

14

Hours received by KS1 pupils on average
8

Schools across three city regions

The pilot stage of our phonics tutoring saw us work with 241 KS1 pupils and deliver over 3,400 hours of tutoring. We worked with eight schools across all three of our regions, with each pupil receiving an average of 14 hours of tutoring. Of the 241 pupils supported, we received results for 113, which showed that pupils made an average of 12.3 marks' progress. We also received positive feedback from the school partners that we worked with:

Erica Watson who we have had for Phonics intervention has been a fantastic asset…[she] has really gone the extra mile.”

Lyndsey Benn, Hawksworth Wood Primary School

Tutor Trust Director of Quality and Impact Matt Wallis, says:

We’re so pleased to be able to offer phonics more widely to our partner schools. The pilot provided some really positive results and the feedback from participating schools was that this was something unique and extremely valuable for this age group."

“Evidence has shown that this age group have been particularly affected by the pandemic and spending their earliest years in lockdown. It’s vital that they are given the support required to enable them to succeed at this initial stage of their educational journey.”

Matt Wallis, Director of Quality and Impact