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.

^{1 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/fdf8e3d7-4420-441d-8084-6a8d82ff4bea}

^{2 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/fdf8e3d7-4420-441d-8084-6a8d82ff4bea}

^{3 https://www.phonicbooks.co.uk/2021/10/05/build-solid-foundation-for-reading-success/}

^{4  https://www.breakingthecode.com/phonics-myths-and-facts/}

^{5  https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-1-and-phonics-screening-check-attainment/2021-22}

^{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}

^{9  https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/asset-library/pdf/Primary/Bug-Club/Bug-Club-efficacy-research-report.pdf}