Some pupils in Years 7 to 9 still find it harder to read and spell unfamiliar words. Before grouping them, identify the sound-letter patterns, syllable structures and spelling features that remain insecure for each pupil.

Secondary intervention should be explicit and cumulative without looking or sounding like early-years provision.

Establish the teaching starting point

Use unfamiliar-word reading, spelling and short connected text. Analyse whether errors concern:

• common or complex sound-letter correspondences;

• blending and segmenting;

• consonant clusters;

• syllable division and multisyllabic words;

• common letter patterns;

• morphemes such as roots, prefixes and suffixes.

Pupils can work together only when they need a sufficiently similar teaching sequence. A shared low score does not establish a shared starting point.

Plan age-respectful provision

Record the target sequence, baseline, session frequency, staff member, review date and exit criteria. Plan short, frequent sessions rather than one long weekly lesson: for example, three to five sessions of 20 to 30 minutes a week for two to four pupils. How long it runs depends on how much support the pupils need, so the school decides where it fits and when to review progress (many schools review after six to eight weeks). If you can, rotate the time slot so pupils don't keep missing the same subject. Use age-appropriate vocabulary and texts. Explain the purpose of the intervention plainly so pupils understand that it is addressing a specific reading and spelling gap.

Teach a small amount explicitly, practise reading and spelling it, then apply it in sentences and connected text. Build cumulative review into every session.

Connect decoding and spelling

Reading and spelling provide complementary evidence. Ask pupils to:

1. hear and identify the relevant sounds or word parts;

2. map them to letters;

3. blend or build the word;

4. read and spell the word in context;

5. retrieve it again after a delay.

Introduce morphology when it helps pupils understand how longer words are built. Do not move to generic vocabulary work while basic decoding patterns remain insecure.

Review progress

Track accuracy on taught and untaught examples, connected-text reading and independent spelling. If a pupil makes limited progress, review the assessed starting point, delivery fidelity and intensity. If decoding becomes secure, shift the main focus towards fluency, vocabulary or comprehension as appropriate.

Programme and resource options

• Read Write Inc. Fresh Start (paid) is for pupils aged 9 to 13+. In secondary schools pupils have 30 minutes a day, taught one-to-one for the first 13 modules and then in small groups, and a placement assessment sets the starting point. Pupils who start at the beginning need two to three terms. A new school's training package was £1,620 plus VAT in October 2026, with resources extra. An EEF trial with pupils aged 9 to 13, reported in 2022, found pupils made about two months less reading progress than a comparison group, although more than a third of the schools offered it never ran it. It suits a school that can staff daily sessions and follow the programme closely.

• Lexonic Leap (paid) teaches phonics and literacy foundations to older learners. Staff have one day of training, and the provider says no previous phonics experience is needed. Cost is on request, and its page cites no independent evaluation. It suits a school that wants a structured route for staff new to phonics. Ask how many sessions it runs for before committing.

• Sounds-Write (paid) is a DfE-validated linguistic-phonics programme with a secondary membership for older struggling readers, including training, lesson scripts and resources (memberships from £400 a year in October 2026). It suits a school that wants staff trained in one method they can use with any year group.

• EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools is free guidance, including on targeted support for pupils who struggle with reading.

Do not run several programmes simultaneously. Select one coherent approach that matches pupils' assessed gaps and the school's capacity.

Talamo has no commercial relationship with any of the organisations named here. We suggest them only because we think they could be useful to schools.