There are many children in this country who cannot learn because they cannot read. Ruth Miskin's tips for change, below, have been gathered from much experience over years helping children to learn to read, as a teacher, head teacher and the creative force behind one of the UK's foremost synthetic phonics learning schemes.

Ruth is adamant that head teachers particularly have the power to make huge differences in the lives of the children they teach in just 18 months.

And here's how…

Give the children what they need

Focus on teaching your children to read. Do not try to follow the 'literacy hour' with children who cannot read. You need to be able to read to do this!

Build enthusiasm

Teachers have had years of different reading programmes thrust upon them so many will be sceptical. It is only when everyone pulls together as a team that you will be successful. Nothing great is achieved without enthusiasm.

Choose one phonic programme that can be used by all teachers for all children who need to learn to read

• Avoid having a plethora of phonic programmes – this leads to confusion and a lack of consistency.



• Visit a school that is using a proven phonic programme with rigour and fidelity.



• Choose a programme with ready-made resources – teachers are fed up with cutting, sticking and laminating.



• Make sure the programme is suitable for children with reading difficulties in all year groups – this will make it easier to organise.

Appoint a key person to lead the teaching of reading

• Find a strong and influential teacher who can lead, support and monitor the teaching and learning of phonics.



• Give this person sufficient time to make sure your chosen phonic programme is implemented rigorously.



• Meet with your phonics manager every week to give support and encouragement.

Train all teachers and teaching assistants how to teach children to read effectively

• Dedicate at least two inset days to initial phonic training of your chosen phonic programme. You need all hands on deck for 18 months so train EVERYONE – include even the year 6 teachers!



• Train new members of staff as soon as they arrive.

Assess all children

• Use the built in assessment of the chosen programme to help you decide where each child should start.



• Check the phonic knowledge of all children and their ability to apply this phonic knowledge to the books you give them to read.



• Include all children who are reading at below NC Level 4. Some children may still be at risk if they cannot decode complex multi syllabic words.



• Get the phonics manager to administer the assessments – it is vital she knows what every child can do.



• Use the tracker and ongoing assessment from the chosen scheme.



• Collect and review this information every half term, child-by-child onto a grid to see if children are learning what they have been taught.

Make a hot-list of children at risk

• Compile a 'hot-list' of all children making slower reading progress, across the whole school.



• Make sure that these children have the best reading teacher so you know the teaching is effective before you decide to put the child on the hot list.



• Write their names on the staff room wall so all staff knows to give them maximum help and praise throughout other lessons in the day.



• Give daily one-to-one tutoring immediately until they have mastered the phonic programme – i.e. they know the 44 sounds and can blend them into words and can apply this to the books they read.



• Have a 'nine o'clock call' system for contacting parents of absent hot list children.

Group the children effectively

• Organise all your children into teaching groups of the same reading ability.



• Put children who are at the same reading level in the same group. This may mean putting children in different year groups together. The closer the homogeneity of the group the faster progress they will make.



• Make sure the group meets every morning for one hour of systematic phonics teaching and of applying what they learn (unless they are in Reception when 30 minutes is fine).



• Re-group the children regularly as they make progress.



• Move children who progress quickly at a speedier pace through the chosen programme.



• Teach EAL children at the same pace but ensure they are given even more support to develop vocabulary and to comprehend what they read.



• Place children with specific learning difficulties or who are slower to read with the best reading teacher.

Deploy all hands on deck

• Make up a team of reading teachers and assistants for one (or two - some teaching assistants may have two groups) hours a day to support all year groups. (Avoid giving teachers their 'own' assistant in the mornings.)



• Place the most vulnerable children with the most capable teachers and teaching assistants.

Make as many teaching corners as possible

• Use all the available teaching spaces during the reading time so both teachers and teaching assistants can have their own reading area.

Allocate time

• Make sure all children take part in a daily phonic and reading lesson.

Allocate resources

• Give every reading teacher their own resources: the specific frieze, wall charts, grapheme and word cards necessary for the chosen programme.



• Make the displays at child-height.



• Check children can sit comfortably and see the teaching board.



• Make sure children have decodable books for guided reading and to take home to read.



• Make sure children's resources (boards, books, pencils) are organised for quick access.

Coach the teachers and teaching assistants

• Get the manager to organise regular coaching sessions on particular aspects of the chosen programme so teachers can practise with each other.



• Give the phonics manager time to coach and team-teach with the teaching assistants and teachers.



• Give time for teachers and teaching assistants to observe the best phonic teaching.

Monitor progress

• Check that teachers and teaching assistants are teaching effectively (when you know they have received plenty of coaching).



• Ensure the chosen programme is taught with fidelity and vigour.



• If not, give the teacher extra help to improve.



• If there are many children making inadequate progress in a specific group, coach the teacher before making judgements about the children's progress
.

Network with schools using the same programme

• Meet with other heads and managers to talk about what is going well, which aspects need further developments and how these aspects will be developed.



• Visit and support a reading manager in a partner school.

Help parents

• Inform parents about the chosen programme.



• Make sure they know, in detail, how they can help.



• Set up workshops for parents to help at home.



• Hold regular update meetings.



• Don't worry if parents can't help. Tell them you will teach their children anyway!

Tell the governors

• Make governors aware of the phonic programme.



• Show evidence of its ongoing success.

Bin or shelve things that could get in your way

• Bin or shelve many of the initiatives that fall on your desk every day. Tell the LA and OFSTED inspectors "We are teaching all our children to read this year!" They will be impressed by what you are doing.

And last of all…

• Be relentless – never give up until every child can read.

Author: Ruth Miskin

The Monteagle Project | Monteagle – The Challenges | A Guide for Head Teachers | A Week in the Life of the Programme… | Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah | Monteagle Primary School Poem | Shane's Poem | Why We Did It | What Monteagle Did and What It Cost | The Testing of Reading Ability at Monteagle Primary School

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