Primary school pupils across Wirral show improvement in their reading ability.
Phonics is a body of knowledge that is necessary for pupils to learn to read and spell, at whatever age. Young children learning to read are taught how to recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes, as well as the skill of blending the individual sounds together to read.
The latest data shows that, in Wirral, the Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check in year rose from 54% in 2011/12 to 79% 2022/23.
Improvements in children’s reading ability in English primary schools builds on the international success earlier this year, when England came fourth for primary reading proficiency, out of 43 countries that tested children of the same age in the highly anticipated Progress in International Reading Literacy Study.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:
Teaching children to read using phonics has been a key part of this government’s focus on driving up school standards over the past 13 years, and our children are now the best readers in the west.
Today’s results reflect the hard work of our teachers and show strong progress as pupils continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
The phonics screening check was first introduced in 2012 when only 58% met the expected standard. Since 2012, there has been a 21% point increase in attainment in the check, highlighting the government’s commitment to raising standards across the board.
Literacy and numeracy are the cornerstones of a world-class education.
Raising standards in primary schools is a key priority for this government to set children up with the best start in life. The government established the network of English hubs to support schools to ensure all children are given a strong start in reading. It also introduced a validated list of phonics programmes to ensure schools have access to high-quality programmes.
The £60 million English hubs programme was rolled out in 2018 and is designed to develop expertise in teaching reading in schools. The lead schools work with partner schools by modelling best practice and providing expert teachers to help them raise standards through phonics.
Our network of 40 maths hubs is supporting schools across the country to improve maths teaching based on mastery teaching approaches used by some of the highest performing parts of the world.
Since 2010, the proportion of schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted has increased from 68% in 2010 to 88% based on latest data.
