Ofsted's Reading Foundations: A Secondary Imperative

IN THIS ARTICLE:

• Analysis: The shift from 'Catch-up' to 'Keep-up.'
• FREE RESOURCE: Download the Staff Training Deck

The ‘OFSTED State-Funded School Inspection Toolkit' is live and ‘strong foundations’ in reading is a golden thread throughout. The new toolkit elevates literacy from a mere operational check to a strategic imperative underpinning core judgements.

For secondary leaders, the question now is how effectively and systemically foundational skills that enable curriculum access for all learners are addressed. The new OFSTED inspection toolkit requires schools to ensure that pupils 'build strong foundations' in communication, language, reading, writing, and mathematics so they can access the full curriculum and succeed later in life. Crucially, inspectors will specifically look for evidence of how schools support 'older pupils whose development is not at their age-appropriate level' in these core areas.

This demands a fundamental shift in perspective. If a pupil cannot read accurately and fluently at an age-appropriate level, they cannot access the curriculum which has been so carefully sequenced and ambitiously planned. Reading is the gateway, and its evaluation is now woven into the fabric of the OFSTED framework. The toolkit is demanding that, at all key stages, reading attainment is 'assessed accurately and gaps are tackled quickly and effectively'. For us as leaders, the strategic challenge is immediate: to translate this non-negotiable expectation into coherent, actionable practice across every department.

Building a Whole-School Literacy Ecosystem

When I started as a literacy lead way back in 2005 the view was very much that closing deep-seated literacy gaps fell disproportionately on the English department or the SENCO. Over the years this narrative has shifted, and one of my priorities as Lexonic CEO is to support literacy leads in getting the reading ‘buy-in’ from every colleague across a school. However, it appears that the explicit demands of the new toolkit, turns this into a school cultural shift where every teacher, across the curriculum, sees themselves as a teacher of reading.

This strategic change hinges on addressing the fundamental "what's in it for me" conundrum. Subject specialists must become acutely aware of the direct impact a reading deficit has on attainment and achievement in their specific subject area. Recent research from academics like Dr. Sharon Vaughn underscores this: comprehension, the ultimate goal, is the outcome of strong foundations in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, and vocabulary. Content knowledge instruction alone cannot compensate if a student lacks the reading skill to decode and process it.

Just consider for a moment one way this could manifest itself. A student who never finishes a practise paper may know their stuff, but lack the reading fluency to complete the paper. If you’re stuck at the decoding stage then you are using up too much cognitive space to access the content knowledge. As a subject specialist you may have taught this student wonderfully, but their lack of fluency prevents them achieving as you know they could.

The goal of this ecosystem is good, solid teaching and learning, not turning subject experts into "English teaching robots". This is achieved by embedding clear, consistent literacy practices across the curriculum, specifically focusing on the disciplinary reading and vocabulary demands of each subject.

Minimising Variability through Targeted PD

To make this sustainable for staff, professional development (PD) must focus on reducing the variability in how key literacy elements are taught. When a consistent teaching habit is established by staff, it quickly translates into a consistent learning habit for students.

This PD can take the form of bitesize professional development modules, such as those available through Lexonic Learn, designed to ensure all staff are rapidly "literacy ready". A key component of this universal instruction is explicit vocabulary instruction, through morphemic analysis, the methodology employed by Wordology by Lexonic, allowing the strategy to be implemented consistently across the entire curriculum.

Pinpointing the Problem: Diagnostic Rigour

To meet the toolkit’s demand that attainment gaps are 'tackled quickly and effectively', a school's strategy must begin with diagnostic rigour. In a secondary context, the overarching reading assessments are the starting point, but then a second screener needs to be deployed to target the specific gaps in phonics in the older learners.

Diagnostic testing is critical for older pupils who still carry deep-seated gaps in phonics or other foundational skills. Programmes like Lexonic Leap are designed to pinpoint these specific weaknesses, enabling leaders to move from broad catch-up efforts to highly targeted, timely, and data-driven instruction.

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Defining Intervention vs. Curriculum

One strategic error that exhausts resources and confuses staff is blurring the lines between intervention and curriculum. A high-impact literacy intervention must adhere to clear, evidence-based principles:

• It must be diagnostic and timely.
• It must be fully resourced and evidence-based.
• It must include dedicated staff training and have a proven impact.

Crucially, as a general rule for defining support, any targeted provision lasting longer than around eight weeks isn't intervention; it’s actually curriculum. This clarity helps school leaders and SENCOs manage workload and ensures resources are used effectively to deliver a fast-paced, high-gain return for the learner.

The Urgency of Speed

Speed is often the essence of impactful reading interventions, particularly for older learners. The methodology should include challenge, but without threat, incorporating essential features such as:

• Internal mini assessments.
• Recall and retrieval practice.
• Competition and timed elements.
• Peer to Peer challenge

This intensity is necessary to close gaps quickly, aligning with the toolkit's aim to 'prioritise 'keeping up' rather than 'catching up', quickly dealing with any identified gaps in pupils’ knowledge'.

For the needs of certain students, reading interventions may need to be 1:1, however this isn’t something which should be advocated for all. The oral development of working in small groups, plus the peer to peer challenge should not be underestimated.

Moving From Catch-Up to Foundational Keep-Up

The core principle articulated within the inspection framework is the priority of ‘keeping up’ rather than ‘catching up’, demanding that leaders deal with gaps in pupils’ knowledge swiftly. In a secondary setting, where the complexity of the curriculum compounds reading difficulty daily, this focus on speed and prevention is a strategic necessity.

The operational challenge is knowing what type of intervention is right for which student. The solution lies in applying the diagnostic data (as captured by programmes such as Lexonic Leap) to segment provision based on the severity of the reading deficit:

• For Learners with Phonics Gaps (SAS below 85): These pupils require interventions, such as the one delivered by Lexonic Leap, that are short, frequent, and intensely targeted—typically 15–20 minutes, three times a week. This type of support must be age-appropriate, fully resourced, and run with absolute fidelity to the core methodology to ensure rapid, specific gap-closing.
• For Learners with Fluency and Vocabulary Needs (SAS 85–115): The focus here shifts to building speed and automaticity, often requiring interventions that run once a week for around six weeks. This model, exemplified by Lexonic Advance, prioritises the high-impact application of learned knowledge to overcome barriers related to reading speed and processing.

It is critical that the curriculum does not pause for any learner. Therefore, any withdrawal intervention must be meticulously timetabled and managed by the Literacy Lead or SENCO to ensure it is timely and has ongoing quality assurance support. When done correctly, the explicit methods taught within the intervention space must be mirrored into whole-class teaching.

There’s also the need for quality assurance of delivery, something which school leaders should be seeking from any external reading intervention provider.

The Methodology of Acceleration

The success of any intervention, regardless of how accurate the diagnosis, rests entirely on the quality and intensity of the methodology. For secondary schools, the methodology must be designed for acceleration, treating literacy gaps with the urgency required to ensure the learner can access the curriculum now.

A truly high-impact intervention is defined by key components that resonate with the latest research and provide a measurable return: it must be diagnostic, timely, fully resourced, evidence based, include staff training, data driven, and demonstrate a proven impact.

Engaging the Older Learner

For older pupils, the instructional delivery must respect their age and cognitive capacity, while deliberately applying pressure to increase automaticity.

There is nothing worse than a teenager feeling patronised or ‘babified’ by the work in front of them. There should also be caution around defaulting to looking at what is delivered in the Primary phase and mirroring this at Secondary. Again, interventions used in Primary haven’t necessarily taken into account the social and emotional needs of the teenage student. Being given a book, for instance, that you know your little brother is also reading will be a self-esteem disaster.

We know that speed is the essence of strong impactful reading interventions. To cultivate this rapid growth, the learning environment must incorporate:

• Challenge Without Threat: Encouraging rapid response and growth through methods that include competition and timed elements, fostering a fast-paced environment that encourages success without the fear of failure.
• Active Recall and Application: Implementing frequent internal mini assessments alongside intense recall and retrieval practice. This ensures that newly acquired foundational knowledge is immediately cemented into long-term memory, becoming an unconscious process.

The purpose of embedding these intensive, measured practices is to equip pupils with methodologies and practices they can apply to any reading situation, independently and at the point of need. This focus on metacognition and transferable skills is what elevates an intervention from a temporary support measure to a sustained academic advantage.

Standardisation at Scale: The MAT Strategic Advantage

For many school leaders, and particularly for the dedicated Literacy Lead, the position can feel incredibly isolated and challenging. This is where a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) structure offers a distinct and powerful strategic advantage. Leveraging collective support and mandating a strategic cross-Trust approach is an effective way to improve outcomes and maximise financial efficiency.

Standardisation is the key to unlocking these benefits. By strategically aligning diagnostic assessment and intervention practice across a group of schools, leaders achieve:

• Economies of Scale: Central procurement and shared use of high-quality, fully resourced programmes significantly reduce the financial burden on individual school budgets. This proves a tangible return on investment (ROI) for trust-wide spending.
• Data Alignment: Crucially, aligning interventions means you can also align progress data and outcomes. This permits MAT leaders to conduct robust, deep analysis into specific cohorts and potential problems, providing a clear, accurate measure of impact across the entire organisation.
• Qualitative Collaboration: Groups of staff from different schools coming together for structured face-to-face training and Professional Development has a demonstrable qualitative impact. It fosters a culture of sharing best practice and enables staff to share and grow from each other, directly countering the isolation often felt by literacy practitioners.

This standardisation ensures that regardless of a learner's entry point, they receive the same high-fidelity, evidence-based support, thereby reducing local inconsistencies and accelerating the closing of the overall attainment gap across the entire Trust.

Impact Beyond the Grade: Confidence, Attendance, and Behaviour

While the inspection toolkit focuses on attainment and curriculum access, all school leaders understand the ultimate return on investment from a rigorous literacy strategy lies in the qualitative improvements seen in the learners themselves. The strategic goal of closing reading gaps extends far past the classroom, directly affecting the student's sense of self and their relationship with school.

When pupils successfully develop their foundational reading skills, the impact on their confidence and behaviour is immediate and tangible. We see students begin participating more in class, volunteering answers, and developing the self-esteem necessary to produce longer, more reflective written responses. Targeted intervention leads to observable improvements in behaviour and an increased sense of pride, self-esteem and motivation.

Perhaps the most compelling strategic argument for robust, high-impact reading intervention is its proven effect on attendance. When students can access the curriculum and feel successful, their desire to be in school increases. One report demonstrated that a literacy-focused intervention successfully boosted cohort attendance by 4.5% and delivered a significant average gain in SAS reading scores, showing a clear connection between literacy success and overall school engagement. This evidence transforms literacy intervention from an educational necessity into a strategic tool for improving whole-school attendance and behaviour metrics—critical areas for any school leader or MAT trust board.

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References

Education Endowment Foundation (2024). Reading House Guidance Report. Available at: [https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/reading-house] (Accessed: November 2025).

GOV.UK (2025). State-funded school inspection toolkit. Available at: [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68b9a6b8b0a373a01819fe4b/Schools_inspection_toolkit.pdf] (Accessed: November 2025).

GOV.UK (2021). The reading framework: Teaching the foundations of literacy. Available at: [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-reading-framework-teaching-the-foundations-of-literacy] (Accessed: November 2025).

Lexonic (2025). How to Teach Phonics in Secondary Schools. Available at: [https://lexonic.org/resources/blog/how-to-teach-phonics-in-secondary-schools] (Accessed: November 2025).

Lexonic (2025). Transforming Outcomes for Disadvantaged Boys. Available at: [https://lexonic.org/resources/blog/transforming-outcomes-disadvantaged-boys] (Accessed: November 2025).

Lexonic (2025). Why Face-to-Face Literacy Instruction Matters More Than Ever. Available at: [https://lexonic.org/resources/blog/why-face-to-face-literacy-instruction-matters-more-than-ever] (Accessed: November 2025).

United Learning (2025). Boys' Impact Collaboration with United Learning: Addressing the gap with Disadvantaged Boys Pilot Project 2024-2025. Available at: [https://unitedlearning.org.uk/Portals/0/unitedthinking/boys-impact-report-2024-25.pdf] (Accessed: November 2025).