When several primary pupils find fluent reading harder, a supported rereading group may help. Confirm that they share a similar starting point before grouping them. Fluency teaching should develop accurate, increasingly automatic and naturally phrased reading while preserving understanding.

Pupils whose main difficulty is decoding unfamiliar words may require a phonological and decoding intervention instead of, or before, a fluency group.

Assess before grouping

Listen to each pupil read a short passage and record:

• accuracy and error patterns;

• hesitations and self-corrections;

• phrasing and use of punctuation;

• understanding of what was read;

• response to adult modelling.

Select pupils whose text level and principal target are sufficiently similar. Record the baseline, intended session frequency, review date and exit criteria. Fluency practice needs to be frequent: for example, three to five sessions of 15 to 20 minutes a week, in pairs or groups of up to four. How long it runs depends on how much support the pupils need. Decide where it fits in the day and when you'll review progress (many schools review after six to eight weeks).

Choose suitable texts

Use short texts that pupils can read with support and that are worth rereading. Include stories, information texts and relevant curriculum passages. The text should contain some challenge without generating so many errors that meaning is lost.

Use a consistent session sequence

1. Introduce the text and clarify essential vocabulary.

2. Read a short section aloud as a fluent model.

3. Use echo reading, supported paired reading or brief choral reading.

4. Ask pupils to reread with less support.

5. Discuss meaning through one or two focused questions.

6. Note accuracy, phrasing and the support still required.

Correct important errors promptly. Explain the word where needed, then return to the sentence so meaning is maintained. Rereading should build confidence and control, not feel like repeated assessment.

Adapt within the group

Pupils may share the target but need different text lengths, prompts or amounts of modelling. Do not retain a pupil in a group that is consistently too easy or too demanding. A pupil can also qualify for separate decoding or comprehension support when assessment identifies a distinct need.

Monitor progress and transfer

Use unfamiliar passages at review points. Track accuracy, phrasing, independence and understanding rather than words per minute alone. Ask class teachers whether pupils are reading classroom texts with greater confidence and less support.

Programme and resource options

• FFT Tutoring with the Lightning Squad (paid) is an online-supported tutoring programme for Years 1 to 6 (FFT says it suits Years 1 to 5 best). Pupils work in small groups with a trained member of staff, ideally in daily 30-minute sessions for about six weeks. It needs a laptop, Chromebook or PC (FFT advises against tablets) and an annual subscription, from £495 for a half-form-entry school in October 2026. An EEF-funded trial with Years 3 and 4 ran in 2025/26; check the EEF website for its results. It suits schools that want a ready-made structure and can give staff daily time.

• HFL Reading Fluency Project (paid) has KS1 and KS2 versions built on modelled, echo and repeated reading, for pupils working towards age-related expectations. Schools join through HFL training (one-day courses or an eight-week programme), and cost is on request. HFL reports comprehension gains from its own data on over 2,000 pupils. An EEF and DfE-funded trial began in September 2024. It suits schools that want to train their own staff in a method they then run themselves.

• EEF: Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 provide free guidance that can inform a school-designed approach.

Review suitability, implementation requirements and evidence in the school's context.

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.