Welcome to my Phonics blog!

Expert tutor blog with hot tips for supporting your KS1 child's phonics, reading, writing and tutoring.

Kara-Primary Tutor

Hi, I'm Kara! As an expert phonics tutor, reading specialist and experienced primary teacher, I'm passionate about helping children unlock the joys of reading and writing.

Here on my blog, you'll find tips, insights and activities all focussed on phonics, early literacy, and nurturing confident readers. Stay tuned for more!

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little one a magical and confident adventure!

Yes, give me 5 ways to help my child to read!

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Year 1 Phonics Screening Check 2025: Boost Your Child’s Confidence with Expert Support

Help your child succeed in the 2025 Year 1 Phonics Screening Check with expert tips and fun, practical activities! 🧩 Join the Phonics Pals booster programme for tailored support designed to build confidence and phonics skills.

Phonics Check Booster Class for Year 1 and 2 children

5 Expert Tips and Phonics Support to Help Your Child Ace the 2025 Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

Expert Tips for Year 1 Phonics Success

Expert Tips for Year 1

Phonics Success

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a key milestone that assesses how well your child can blend and decode words using their phonics knowledge. It plays a crucial role in building early reading fluency and confidence.

If your child is struggling with reading, consistent and engaging phonics practice is essential to help them prepare.

While this assessment might feel daunting, it’s a fantastic opportunity for your child to demonstrate their phonics skills and for you to see their reading progress.

With the right approach and fun phonics resources, you can turn preparation into a confidence-boosting experience for your Year 1 learner.

As a phonics expert, I recommend these five easy and effective strategies to ensure your child feels prepared, confident, and ready to succeed!

Here are the top five practical phonics activities and tips to get you started:

Get Your Child Ready for the Phonics Screening!

Tip 1: Make Learning Fun with Customised Phonics Check Flashcards

Phonics flashcards are a fantastic tool to make learning interactive and enjoyable. Using phonics games, storytelling, and hands-on activities with flashcards helps keep children engaged while reinforcing their phonics knowledge.

Check out my phonics check flashcard collection, which is expertly designed for preparation for the phonics screening check.

These colourful phonics resources combine phonics practice and enjoyment, with vibrant images of aliens that kids will love!

Get your Phonics Check Flashcards Here! ⤵️

Get Phonics Check Cards

Daily Reading Leads to Success

Tip 2: Read together Daily with your Year 1 Learner

Daily reading is one of the most powerful ways to support your child’s phonics progress. Choose books that match their reading level and gradually introduce more challenging words.

Encourage your little one to sound out words using their phonics knowledge and praise their efforts, keeping the experience positive and fun!

Even if you’re a busy mum, you can fit this into your routine—have your child read at the kitchen table while you prepare meals! The whole point is that you are giving your child every chance to succeed!

Writing promotes Good Phonological Awareness

Tip 3: Boost Phonological Awareness Through Writing

Writing is a powerful tool for encouraging and reinforcing phonics skills. Encourage your child to write simple and more complex words using their phonics sounds.

Make it fun by writing silly sentences, animal diaries, letters to family members or stories.

Through writing, your child will be applying their phonics knowledge creatively and practically, which can greatly aid their understanding and retention. A win, win!

Year 1 Phonics Practice Material

Tip 4: Practice with Past Year 1 Phonics Screening Checks

A good tactic is to familiarise your child with the format of the phonics test and the types of words they might encounter can demystify the screening check and ease anxiety.

Practice with past papers or similar exercises like using the phonics check flashcards.

Keep the atmosphere light and encouraging—this is about gaining confidence, not pressure.

🔗 Get free past Phonics Screening Check materials here!

Book Your Child's Slot!

Tip 5: Get Expert Support with Year 1 Phonics Pals

Sometimes, expert guidance makes all the difference. As a former Year 1 teacher and phonics specialist, I offer Phonics Pals, a targeted phonics intervention booster program designed to help children master phonics in a fun and engaging way.

The Phonics Pals programme provides small-group sessions tailored to Year 1 and Year 2 children, helping them gain the skills and confidence they need to excel in the phonics screening check.

Join Phonics Pals Today!

🚀 Jumpstart Your Child’s Phonics Success with Expert Support!

Have fun celebrating their achievements, no matter the size, and keep the process fun and engaging.

Kara Cook, Phonics Expert

Hi! I’m Kara, a Jigsaw Phonics tutor and reading expert with 24 years of experience helping children just like yours.

➡️Find out more about Phonics Pals

By signing up, you’ll be the first to know when enrolment opens and receive exclusive phonics tips and resources to support your child’s reading journey.

📢 Limited spaces available—secure your child’s slot today!

Book a call today!

Join Phonics Pals Today!

Phonics Pals: Jumpstart your Child's Phonics Adventure

with Phonics Expert Support!

Sign up for the Phonics Pals Waiting List Today! Are you eager to pave the way for your child's success in reading? Hi! I'm Kara, a Jigsaw Phonics tutor and reading expert with extensive knowledge and experience working with children just like yours!

This is your golden opportunity to secure your child's place in Phonics Pals, our effective phonics-based reading program where your child will have personalised access to dynamic phonics lessons tailored to boost their phonics knowledge and confidence.

By joining our Phonics Pals waiting list, you'll be the first to know when enrolment opens, plus you'll receive invaluable tips and resources to support your child's reading journey. We offer the best Year 1 phonics support to prepare your child for the Phonics Screening Check with Kara, a phonics expert and reading tutor.

Find out more here

Places are limited so join today!

Click the big pink button to secure your child's slot today!

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Empowering Early Readers: Navigating Dyslexia & Other Literacy Challenges (Part 2)

Dyslexia & Other Literacy Challenges:

Recognising and Helping Early Readers

at home & school

Welcome back to my 3-part series: Dyslexia & Other Literacy Challenges. In Part 1, we explored the early signs of literacy challenges in our budding young readers.

In Part 2 "Empowering Early Readers: Navigating Literacy Challenges and Dyslexia" we'll be diving deeper to explore the six vital signs, with a special focus on dyslexia. Join me as we uncover the secrets to empowering these young literary explorers!

A Guide for Parents: 6 Ways to Spot Dyslexia & Other Literacy Challenges in Your Early Reader (part 2)

Let's continue our journey by understanding these signs and discovering ways to support our budding readers both at home and school. Here are 6 essential tips to understand the early warning signs of struggling readers.

1. Reading Isn't Always Smooth

As young readers advance to short phrases or sentences, the ones on the dyslexia spectrum will be unlikely to read them fluently. That's because all their mental energy goes into sounding out words, preventing them from reading automatically, and therefore easily, like skilled readers.

When this happens, fluent reading is too hard or it isn't happening. This is often noted in the first term of Reception when reading instruction becomes more formal.

2. Mistaking Similar-Looking Words

Dyslexic readers often confuse similar-looking words by reading one word as another. Frequent occurrences could hint at dyslexia. One of the reasons for this is just the effort of reading words, and effortful processes are prone to mistakes. Another reason is that dyslexic learners often do not comprehend what they read and so similar-looking words become interchangeable because that process of "hold on, this doesn't make sense, let me read that again" doesn't kick in for dyslexic learners.

3. Trouble with Irregular Words

Early readers learn to sound out words, like c-a-t/cat, as the first strategy they are taught. But with so many irregular words in the English language, children find this strategy is not always helpful as it doesn't always work. There are those "sight words" or "tricky words" like here and some and once that are impossible to sound out-they need to be read in one go, automatically.

Children who persistently try to sound out these words are relying on the only strategy they know, and this can be an indication of dyslexia.

4. Putting in Extra Effort

Some children put in extra effort and work so much harder than everyone else to compensate for their difficulties, but only get poor to average results. This can be where dyslexia can affect their mental health and self-esteem.

If this describes your child, it is essential to provide support.

Also, be alert to when your child puts in incredible levels of hard work but gets about the same results as the children who are not on the dyslexia spectrum.

That level of effort is exhausting and is hard to maintain, especially as work gets harder. In this case, if your child is assessed, the results are often at the lower end of the spectrum but not low enough for a "diagnosis" of dyslexia.

5. Reading Without Full Comprehension

"Fluent" reading doesn't always mean full comprehension. Some young readers decode words efficiently but struggle to grasp the content. It's crucial to differentiate between reading and understanding.

These children fall into the group on the dyslexia spectrum who are called "poor comprehenders" and while this tends to show up a bit later in the journey of learning to read, it's one to watch out for. It's those learners who read fluently but fail to comprehend what they have read. This is because all of their effort is used for reading words so there is no capacity left over to understand what they have read. It's easy to mistake fluent reading for reading with understanding, but they are often very different things.

6. Family History Matters

Dyslexia is genetic and often runs in families. According to Understood.org about 40 percent of siblings of kids with dyslexia also have reading challenges. Additionally, as many as 49 percent of their parents do, too.

Exactly how genetics leads to dyslexia is complex and not fully understood yet. As a result, it may skip a generation, or it may only show up in one child and not their siblings.

Because it was not fully recognised until fairly recently, clues are that older relatives might share negative stories of their school struggles due to unrecognised difficulties. The chances are that they did not go into jobs that require lots of reading and writing. Recognising these patterns in family history can be a vital clue for identifying dyslexia in younger children. Once you know what you are looking for, it all falls into place pretty easily.

Understanding the early indicators of struggling readers is like discovering hidden treasures in the realm of literacy. That is why taking proactive steps can significantly impact a child's literacy development. In our final blog part, I’ll reveal practical strategies and valuable resources to champion children with literacy differences, ensuring their success in reading and writing. Stay tuned for more!

Are you concerned about your child's literacy development or suspect they may have dyslexia?

Does your child come home from school tearful because their peers are so much better at reading?

This kind of anxiety and pressure will turn them away from reading for good if you don't take action to support them.

Good news, I can help! As an experienced online reading tutor, I am trained to identify the signs of dyslexia and other literacy challenges and provide tailored support.

Let's work together to empower your young reader. Reach out to me for guidance and support on your journey.

Email me at kara@just2imaginetutors.com or book a call to get started.

Book a Discovery Call

Your child's literacy success is just a click away!