Background

Improving early communication, language and literacy development is a key priority for the city. We know that by the age for four, a child from a disadvantaged background has heard 30 million fewer words compared to their more advantaged peers. We know that a child with a poor vocabulary when they are five is more than twice as likely to be unemployed in their thirties and one and a half times more likely to have mental health problems compared to a child with a good vocabulary. There is also significant research linking poor speech and language skills to a range of poor outcomes including offending.

Some of the most disadvantaged children in Portsmouth start school months behind their peers and the gap can grow through their school years. As a result of Covid-19 the likelihood is that disadvantaged children in Portsmouth will have lost more ground in their language development, exacerbating the situation.

Our performance through EYFS and KS1 and KS2 underlines the issue and the particular impact of Covid-19 in Portsmouth where clearly standards have not yet returned to those pre-pandemic. The DfE strongly advised not to use primary 2022 results for any comparative or accountability measures due to the uneven impact of Covid-19 across the country and we continue to be mindful of this, as effects of school closures and pupil/staff absence are long-lasting. Whilst mirroring national trends, gaps still remain significant and our aspiration to be in line with national averages is a firm commitment.

Literacy related outcomes for 2025 EYFS – KS2

Positive indications of the impact of considerable work on the teaching and learning of Phonics over the last 4 years are illustrated by the continued % increase in the Portsmouth local authority average from 2022 to 2025 compared to the national average increase (11.5% v 4.6%). Access to funding and support from our local designated English Hub and follow up work is key to this continued progress.

In Early Years there has been a collaborative effort across the city to develop a cohesive communication and language strategy which is helpfully summarised on the co-produced Portsmouth Commitment to Early Language. This is being woven into all training opportunities e.g. initial teacher training, EY settings, school staff.  Other work includes continuation of the ‘Read with Me’ project – an initiative bringing together the School Library Service, public libraries, EY settings, Yr R practitioners and parents with a universal approach of identifying a minimum of 15 key quality and popular texts to be shared in EY settings, accessed over the summer holidays by families and revisited by schools in the early Autumn term. This work has now been extended with a complementary initiative ‘Rhyme With Me’.

The Early Years service have been working with Solent NHS speech and language therapists in the development of ‘Best Start Top Tips for Talking’ strategies. This has aligned to the implementation of ELSEC (see below) and the ‘Chat, Play, Read’ initiative for parents and families. The city has actively supported and promoted the national Tiny Happy People campaign and the investment in Family Hubs, including Home Start who run supportive groups for parents regarding the communication, language and literacy skills young children need to thrive. Portsmouth has become a member of the ’50 things to do before you’re 5′ community where families can access a website or App that suggests activities to do at home or within the locality to develop language and learning.

Oracy and language development is a key focus workstream of the PEP Early Language and Literacy Development Group with the development of Home Learning Environment learning cards which have been published on both the PEP and Family Assist websites. The local authority in conjunction with the NHS has been selected to test out the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) initiative as part of the SEND and AP Change program whereby speech and language therapists will seek to improve early identification and reduce the rate of specialist referrals, as well as increase workforce capacity and improve the quality of data and evidence through improved join-up between health and education. The ELSEC team have used the WELCOMM screening tool and Early Talk Boost interventions in targeted settings and schools.

Within the primary sector, 24 Portsmouth KS2 schools are now implementing part or all of Hackney Education’s Destination Reader program with positive impact on staff subject knowledge, pupil attitudes, enjoyment, and progress in reading. Continuation of the support DR network group plus the support of the Schools’ Library Service has been praised by Hackney Education advisers in the evaluation of PEIA work in the summer 2025 PEP Conference. In collaboration with Hackney 5 DR Portsmouth Lead Practitioners have now been identified and are being developed in school-to-school working, which will build capacity and sustainability and a lasting legacy.

The highly successful Portsmouth ‘Year 6 Big City Read’ event in 2021 where Year 6 pupils were provided with their own copy of Michael Morpurgo’s book ‘Boy Giant’ was further developed in July 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Year 6 pupils across Portsmouth primary schools are each gifted a copy of a chosen book and are able to attend a live-streamed interview with the author. A transition unit of work to accompany the novel is annually written by representatives of Year 6 and Year 7 teachers to support pupils from different schools coming together in their new secondary school. The impact is reflected in feedback from a parent “Taking part in the Year 6 Big City Read was a fantastic experience for my daughter in Year 6 and she thoroughly enjoyed hearing the author answer their questions and talk about the book they had all read. It also had a big impact on her settling into her Secondary School at the start of Year 7, as it meant that despite all the pupils in her English class being from various feeder schools in the city, they all had something in common. They were able to discuss the shared experience of the Year 6 Big City Read as well as the book itself.” In 2024 and 2025, each secondary school was given a set of 30 copies of the selected text funded by PEIA work, to ensure the transition element of this project can be facilitated.

At secondary we know that literacy is key to learning across all subjects and a strong predictor of outcomes in later life. Disciplinary literacy is an approach to improving literacy across the curriculum which recognises that literacy skills are both general and subject specific. This guidance challenges the notion that literacy in secondary school is solely the preserve of English teachers, or literacy coordinators. The emphasis on disciplinary literacy makes clear that every teacher communicates their subject through academic language, and that reading, writing, speaking and listening are at the heart of knowing and doing every subject in secondary school. Secondary literacy is being supported in the city through the PEP Secondary English Network group which aligns to the PEP Early Language and Literacy Development group. The work of Education Psychologists outlined in the document ‘Supporting young people at secondary school with literacy difficulties’ and the promotion of a secondary self-assessment literacy toolkit, based on the EEF guidance report on improving literacy in secondary schools are both being developed further through PEIA workstreams.

All sectors from early years, through primary, into secondary and post-16, plus parents and carers, can now benefit from the 5 minute videos ‘Phonics in 5’ that have been developed and posted on the Portsmouth Education Partnership website. The Portsmouth Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) have also supported work on phonics by writing a helpful document which outlines research and top tips about how to approach phonics with pupils learning English as an additional language. To further support Key Stage 2 and 3 staff in particular a Phonics and Spelling Mapping Progression lists different and increasingly more difficult words from Year R to Year 6 that share the same phonetic sound. Action research from local Portsmouth schools successfully using this tool and identifying its early impact have been written up as case studies supported by the University of Portsmouth.

The PEP Early Language and Literacy Development Group established in autumn 2020 has completed much work already to drive this priority of the Education Strategy forward in spite of the pandemic and has focused on delivering strands of work for Priority 1 of Portsmouth’s Priority Education Investment Area (PEIA) delivery plan. The group has enabled partners from different age phases and sectors, ranging from education, childcare and inclusion to health and cultural services to align and connect initiatives in a coherent and strategic manner.

Intensive staff support and training on improving standards of writing based on EEF evidence and guidance reports was delivered to 15 primary schools in 2023-24 and this built to 35 primary schools in 2024-25 with positive feedback.

Key activity from 2024/25:

Focus on communication and language. Including:

• Engagement by schools with the national reception year early language programme.
• Regularly refreshed and publicised Hungry Little Minds and Tiny Happy People.
• Provided training for early years settings and the reception year with communication and language focus.
• Provided universal training on the 10 top tips for talking strategies.
• Delivery of ELSEC programme of speech and language screening and intervention in EY settings and Year R classes.
• Engagement with the ’50 things to do before you’re 5′ programme.
• Engagement with the Home Learning Environment learning cards.
• Engagement with new Rhyme With Me project.
• Promotion and underpinning knowledge of Rhyme With Me delivered at the PEP conference Spring 2025.
• Engagement with the established Read With Me project.
• Creation of a new training series based on developing strong listening skills. Delivered by specialist provision The Elizabeth Foundation – Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen.

Implementation of the strategic Portsmouth Commitment to Early Language including:

• Work with the early years workforce and families using data-led approach to the delivery and analysis of the effectiveness of early language programs across the city.
• Developed appropriate tools, training and practice sharing.
• Worked with health service providers.
• Work with early years providers and schools.

In our primary schools we focussed on supporting schools to deliver the following:

• Develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills and wider understanding of language development.
• Use a wide range of explicit and implicit approaches including planning the teaching of vocabulary, modelling and extending children’s language and thinking e.g. Pupil Poet Laureates, Word Collectors.
• Effectively support schools to implement a systematic synthetic phonics program (SSP) and support for progression in phonics.
• Using a balanced and engaging approach to developing reading, integrating both decoding and comprehension skills.
• Teach pupils to develop greater reading fluency.
• Support pupils to use strategies for planning and monitoring their writing.
• Promote fluent written transcription skills (handwriting, spelling or typing).
• Embed and extend the partnership with Hackney Education as part of the Priority Education Investment Area work which has enabled schools to access the literacy programs ‘Destination Reader’ and ‘Daily Supported Reading’ and develop 5 Portsmouth DR Lead Practitioners.

In our secondary schools we focussed on supporting schools to deliver the following:

• Appropriate diagnostic identification of students’ barriers to improving their reading and the appropriate pathway to meet these needs.
• Phonics support and interventions with trained and skilled staff to support older students who are struggling with the early stages of reading.
• Disciplinary literacy and targeted vocabulary across the curriculum.
• Complete a literacy self-assessment using a given consistent toolkit.
• Develop students’ ability to read increasingly complex academic texts.
• Continue Educational Psychology support for struggling readers in secondary schools through video recorded training on classroom practice related to students varied literacy needs.
• Break down complex writing tasks and combine writing instruction with reading in and provide opportunities for structured talk.
• Provide high quality literacy interventions for struggling students. This included the continuation and extension of the Literacy Hubs’ innovative programme (Pompey Pirates and Portsea Sailors) which delivers an intensive yearlong learning programme for children aged 9 to 13 who are both falling behind in their literacy progress and are disadvantaged.
• Utilise digital technology, particularly for students with SEND and those who may have additional vulnerabilities (e.g. Clicker, Docs Plus).

Key actions for 2025/26:

1. Improve EYFSP outcomes but with a particular focus on communication and language. This will include:

• Regularly refresh and publicise Tiny Happy People on social media platforms.
• Delivery of ELSEC programme of speech and language screening and intervention in EY settings and Year R classes.
• Deliver Universal ELSEC initiatives.
• Engagement with the ’50 things to do before you’re 5′ programme to model language use, talking and vocabulary development with families.
• Engagement with the Home Learning Environment learning cards created by the ELLD workstream and shared widely with partners to go out to parents (PEP website for schools to access and Family Assist website for families).
• Support the Chat, Play, Read initiative for parents, carers and families.

2. Continue to implement the strategic Portsmouth Commitment to Early Language which includes:

• Ensuring the early years workforce understand early language development and support children to achieve their very best.
• Ensuring that families understand the importance of early language development and the vital role they play and take an active interest in supporting children to develop a wide and rich vocabulary.
• Develop a data-led approach to the delivery and analysis of the effectiveness of early language programs across the city.
• Develop appropriate tools, training and practice sharing that support schools and early years providers to deliver robust and effective approaches to all children’s early language development.
• Work with health service providers to ensure they use a range of resources and tools, share key messages about language development with families at every contact and develop mechanisms to share best practice across the health workforce, supporting families at all levels of the Healthy Child Program.
• Work with early years providers and schools to ensure key staff are trained in a way which provides them with a high level of understanding around the acquisition of early language.  Ensure that provision has a culture in which early language and communication development is a primary focus and integrated into all activity and promote engaging and stimulating language rich environments.

3. In our primary schools we will focus on supporting schools to deliver the following:

• Develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills and wider understanding of language development.
• Use a wide range of explicit and implicit approaches including planning the teaching of vocabulary, modelling and extending children’s language and thinking e.g. Pupil Poet Laureates.
• Effectively support schools to implement a systematic synthetic phonics program (SSP) which explicitly and robustly teaches pupils a comprehensive set of letter-sound relationships for reading and sound letter relationships for spelling with resources that closely match the phonics cumulatively taught, from Year R and on into KS2.
• Support for progression in phonics so that Key Stage 2 and 3 practitioners are developed in their subject knowledge and pedagogy to improve levels of literacy in Portsmouth children and young people.
• Use a balanced and engaging approach to developing reading, integrating both decoding and comprehension skills. Both decoding and comprehension skills are necessary for confident and competent reading, but neither is sufficient on its own.
• Teach pupils to develop greater reading fluency that will enable them to access more text, gain confidence, enjoyment and free up cognitive overload.
• Support pupils to use strategies for planning and monitoring their writing. Producing quality writing is a complex process but a number of different strategies are likely to help.  These include pre-writing activities, the ‘I do, we do, you do’ method, drafting, editing and revising and sharing.
• Promote fluent written transcription skills (handwriting, spelling or typing) through encouraging extensive and purposeful practice and explicit teaching as well as accessing assistive technology.  Children must develop fluency in these skills to the point that they have become automated.
• Embed and extend the partnership with Hackney Education as part of the Priority Education Investment Area work which has enabled schools to access the literacy programs ‘Destination Reader’ and ‘Daily Supported Reading’ and develop 5 Portsmouth DR Lead Practitioners.

4. In our secondary schools we will focus on supporting schools to deliver the following:

• Appropriate diagnostic identification of students’ barriers to improving their reading and the appropriate pathway to meet these needs.
• Phonics support and interventions with trained and skilled staff to support older students who are struggling with the early stages of reading.
• Disciplinary literacy and targeted vocabulary across the curriculum.
• Complete a literacy self-assessment using a given consistent toolkit.
• Develop students’ ability to read increasingly complex academic texts.
• Continue Educational Psychology support for struggling readers in secondary schools through video recorded training on classroom practice related to students varied literacy needs.
• Break down complex writing tasks and combine writing instruction with reading in and provide opportunities for structured talk.
• Provide high quality literacy CPD through the Secondary English network for English and Literacy leads promoting and utilising the DfE ‘Supporting reading in secondary school’ materials for practitioners and school leaders.
• Utilise digital technology, particularly for students with SEND and those who may have additional vulnerabilities.