A brief preview can prepare a pupil to decode the few words most likely to interrupt their reading. It should remove a specific barrier to the lesson, not become a separate phonics session or a rehearsal of every unfamiliar word.

Choose the patterns carefully

Scan the text and identify two or three sound-letter patterns that the pupil has not yet secured. Prioritise patterns that occur in essential words or appear several times.

Keep vocabulary and decoding separate. A pupil may be able to pronounce a word without understanding it, or understand it when spoken but be unable to decode it in print.

Use a short preview

For each pattern:

1. Show it within one useful example word.

2. Say the sound and ask the pupil to repeat it.

3. Model blending the complete word.

4. Ask the pupil to read the word independently.

5. Point out where the same pattern appears in the lesson text.

For example, before reading a science passage containing boiling, point and moisture, briefly revisit the sound represented by oi in one or two words. Then return to the actual passage.

Keep the words visible if the pupil may need to check them during reading. A preview like this usually takes two or three minutes and could happen, for example, as the class settles, during the starter or at the start of a guided reading group.

Return quickly to the lesson

The purpose is successful access to the text. Once the pupil has rehearsed the necessary pattern, begin the reading task and prompt only if that pattern causes difficulty again.

If the pupil reads the word accurately, do not interrupt to repeat the teaching point. Reduce advance support as recognition becomes more secure.

When more support is needed

A preview is suitable when the barrier is limited and predictable. It is not sufficient when the pupil:

• Struggles with many patterns in the same text.

• Cannot blend words containing patterns that have been taught repeatedly.

• Needs substantial prompting throughout ordinary reading.

• Makes limited progress despite frequent classroom practice.

In these cases, discuss structured assessment or intervention with the literacy lead or SENCo.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Previewing a long list of words.

• Teaching word meaning when the immediate issue is decoding, or vice versa.

• Choosing patterns unrelated to the school's phonics sequence.

• Turning every new text into an individual phonics lesson.

• Continuing previews after the pupil can recognise the patterns independently.

What the evidence says

Systematic phonics teaching is most useful when it builds cumulatively from what pupils already know. Brief advance preparation is a classroom scaffold rather than a complete intervention, so its value should be judged by whether the pupil reads the target words more independently in the lesson.

Sources and further reading

• The DfE Reading Framework
  Guidance on systematic phonics, matching practice to current knowledge and supporting pupils who need additional help.

• EEF: Phonics
  Evidence summary covering explicit, systematic teaching and the importance of matching support to pupils' current knowledge.

• EEF: Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1
  Practical evidence-informed guidance for phonological awareness, word reading and classroom literacy support.