Bury, Oldham & Tameside had three of the top ten worse results for local authority areas implementation of the Governments focus on phonics approach to teaching reading to children.
Worse ten local authorities for phonics results
| Nottingham | 69.5% |
| Peterborough | 69.8% |
| Wakefield | 70.1% |
| Doncaster | 70.3% |
| Derby | 70.3% |
| Liverpool | 70.7% |
| Bury | 70.8% |
| Oldham | 71.2% |
| Middlesbrough | 71.2% |
| Tameside | 71.5% |
One hundred and twenty thousand more children are now on track to become excellent readers as a result of the government’s focus on phonics, vindicating reforms to transform the way young people learn to read.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the results show the focus on phonics is ensuring more children are becoming “confident, inquisitive and fluent readers”.
The minister said the introduction of the phonics check in 2012 helped to replace “ineffective methods” of teaching that meant children were being “denied the joy of reading”.