Phonics in numbers
Did you know?
The number of schools and pupils are growing
- Every year around 500,000 children start primary school across England
- In England there are 16,778 primary schools and 4,655,513 primary pupils1
- On average, each infant class has 27.6 pupils2
The English Phonics Code is complex
- There are 44 sounds (or phonemes) but only 26 letters in the alphabet3
- There are 175+ letter or letter combinations
- 86% of English words are spelled phonetically4
Too many children still struggle
- Recent KS1 attainment scores showed a marked decline in expected standards in phonics (75%), reading (67%) and writing (58%)5
- 175,000 Y6 pupils did not meet the expected standard in reading last year6
- 25% of pupils start Year 7 with a reading age below 117
The evidence is clear
- Synthetic phonics supports an additional 5 months of progress per year8
- Bug Club Phonics, as an SSP, is particularly effective for the lowest attaining 20% of learners
- Bug Club Phonics pupils were 11 months9 ahead of their expected age equivalent reading score after just 5 terms of use
Help is at hand
- Over £24 million is set to be invested by the DfE in building children’s literacy skills
- There are 34 English Hubs across 8 regions
- Each eligible school could access up to £9,000 of early language support
As a DfE approved phonics teaching programme, Bug Club Phonics includes:
- 180 fun, varied, decodable books featuring fiction and non-fiction, fully matched to the Bug Club Phonics progression.
- Assessment materials and tracker to check how children are progressing, including 118 assessment games, 45 assessment sheets and 3 mock PSC test ensure you are able to keep track of children’s progress, whilst also familiarising them with the format of the Y1 screening check.
- Classroom resources including flashcards, sound mats and posters, as well as over 800 printable word cards covering real words, pseudo words, high frequency words and irregular words.
- 2 Teaching and Assessment guides, 164 lesson plans, 273 teaching screens for use on your interactive whiteboard, 164 worksheets and 145 practice games.
- All of this comes with a full package of support, including how-to-guides and videos, ‘live actions’ Phonics lesson videos and notes, customisable PD units, parent material, a supportive Facebook community of over 550 Bug Club Phonics teachers and a friendly customer support team for all your Bug Club Phonics needs.
If you’re a state-funded infant school, primary school, junior school, special school or pupil referral unit working with primary-aged children, you could be eligible for extra funding and support.
Visit Pearsonprimary.co.uk/EnglishHubs to find out more about working with your local English Hub, applying for funding, Bug Club Phonics resources and training and further support for improving literacy in your school.
3 https://www.phonicbooks.co.uk/2021/10/05/build-solid-foundation-for-reading-success/
4 https://www.breakingthecode.com/phonics-myths-and-facts/
6 https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2022/09/05/thousands-of-year-7s-struggle-with-reading/
7 https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2022/09/05/thousands-of-year-7s-struggle-with-reading/
8 https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/phonics