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<p>The government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring
all children can read fluently and with understanding. The new national curriculum,
introduced in 2014, has increased the focus on reading in the primary curriculum and
has a focus on phonics. There is a substantial body of evidence that shows that systematic
phonics is a highly effective method for teaching early reading.</p><p>The government
introduced the light touch phonics screening check for year 1 pupils in 2012. The
check is designed to assess pupils’ ability to decode and read words using phonics.
Phonics performance is improving, with 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard
in 2019, compared to 58% when the check was introduced.</p><p>Building on this success,
in 2018 the department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. We have appointed
34 primary schools across England as English Hubs. The English Hubs Programme is supporting
nearly 3000 schools in England to improve their teaching of reading through systematic
synthetic phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. The English
Hubs are focused on improving educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils
in Reception and Year 1.</p>
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