Literacy and Phonics

Help your child to read

Learning to read is one of the most important skills a child can learn and one we don't take for granted. We're passionate about helping every child to learn to read and develop a love of reading that will carry them through their life of learning.  

Take a look at our free guides and resources to help you support your child with literacy. 

Are you a teacher?

Discover a world of free support, guidance and tried-and-tested resources, including our Bug Club reading programme.

Discover primary school support

Front cover of Enjoy Reading: A guide to reading at home

Free guide: Reading with your child

As parents, we all want the best for our children. We’re probably all aware that it’s important to make sure they are confident, fluent readers who enjoy reading, but often it’s hard to know where to start. Should you read to your baby? What can you do to help get your children familiar with words and reading before they go to school? And how do you help them progress at school when the teaching is different nowadays?

We've created a guide to reading with children, which we hope will help answer all your questions and give you advice on helping struggling readers.

Download our guide (PDF | 4.6 MB)

What is phonics?

Sophie Thomson, Head of English and extended curriculum, explains what phonics are, how they work and provides practical guidance to help you help your child learn to read at home.

Boost your child’s reading with Bug Club Phonics 

Our new Bug Club Phonics packs are designed to help your child gain a strong foundation in reading, writing and spelling, and get ready for the Year 1 phonics check. 

There are five packs, covering phonics phases 2-5 for Reception and Year 1. They follow the same methodology that has made Bug Club loved by millions of children around the world. 

Learn more

Here are our top 10 tips for reading at home - download now

Top 10 tips to encourage and inspire children to get #ReadingAtHome

Bug Club is 10 years old! As part of our celebrations, we asked experts and authors what they recommend to get children reading. 

Download our top 10 tips for reading at home

Get involved

Tag us on social media @PearsonSchools and share your photos of you reading at home! Just use the hashtag #ReadingAtHome. We can't wait to see what you have been up to!

Guides to phonics

We've created a straightforward guide to supporting phonics learning at home, with a progression chart to show you the order in which phonic sounds are taught in school and an FAQs document.

A guide to supporting phonics at home

Phonics progression chart

FAQs

Supporting children with SEND

We're aware that school closures will cause particular concerns for parents of children with special education needs (SEND).

We have created a guide for supporting children with SEND, with strategies to help you support your child at home and guidance on using our Rapid series for struggling readers.

Download your guide to SEND and reading

My Twist On A Tale competition

Exciting news, we’ve chosen the winners of the My Twist on a Tale 2020 writing competition! Picking the final 15 winners was no easy task, as we and the judges were blown away by the level of imagination and writing skills. 

Read the winning stories (PDF, 3.7 MB)

My Twist on a Tale - Winners announced