Phonics Isn’t the Finish Line: Building Real Readers at KS3 and Beyond

Let’s settle the phonics debate: it works. Systematic synthetic phonics is one of the most rigorously evidenced interventions in education. But here’s the truth: by the time many learners reach KS3, they don’t need decoding. They need depth.

At Route Education, we meet too many students who can sound out a word - but still can’t read. Their gaps aren’t in the alphabetic code. They’re in:

• Semantic knowledge

• Stamina and fluency

• Comprehension and inference

• Motivation, self-efficacy, and schema

• Morphology (prefixes, suffixes, etymology)

  
  

So no - we’re not anti-phonics.

We’re pro-literacy. And that means:

• Using phonics where gaps exist

• Teaching academic vocabulary with purpose

• Building knowledge and memory through schema work

• Teaching sentence-level fluency and metacognitive reading habits

  
  

Diagnostic First, Always

When we assess a learner’s literacy profile, we ask:

• Is this a decoding issue, or a comprehension gap?

• Where is fluency breaking down?

• How do we layer writing onto reading?

The DfE’s 2025 priorities ask the sector to deliver evidence-informed, scalable literacy recovery. We believe that means moving beyond either/or debates - and toward real-world practice that recognises reading as thinking.

Because once you can decode, you still need a reason to read. And we’re here to help learners find it.