I have assessed the children on Rapid Catch-up and they have gaps. It says I need to reteach the phase. Do I really need to do that?

First of all, please don’t see an assessment with gaps as a failure (of your teaching or the child’s learning). Children who are following the Rapid Catch-up programme (RCU) will take a more complex path than children who learned to read in Reception and Year 1.

We need to remember this complexity when we teach and assess. Many of the children following RCU have gaps in their phonic knowledge because they haven’t had enough practice. Whilst most children only need to see a GPC a few times for it to be remembered, other children will need to see it many more times.

It is really important for children to secure each phase before we move them on. Use the assessment to plan to fill the gaps and either reteach whole weeks/days of the phase or use the Individual plan and Content plan to plan and teach the exact GPCs or word types. Once the children have secured these gaps, move on to the next phase, or four weeks of teaching in the case of Phase 5.

Note! Phase 5 assessment is cumulative, you go back to Phase 5 set 1 for each assessment. This is to ensure that the GPCs are being retained, which is often an issue for children who have found the alternative GPCs tricky. If you have gaps in GPCs from previous teaching, just go back and reteach them. This overlearning and practice are what makes the difference.

Remember to match the pace of RCU to the children you are working with. We were delighted to hear of a teacher who had a child doing two weeks of RCU a week as they were so determined to read! Equally some teachers have slowed the pace right down at times to secure a phase or GPC and then returned to pace as laid out by the weekly grids.

So, should you reteach the whole phase? If the child has significant gaps, then yes. If they are only missing a few GPCs, then focus your teaching on those until they are secure, and then move on. We have designed Rapid Catch-up to be flexible so that you can tailor it to meet the needs of your children, many of whom will need plenty of repetition and practice. By giving them this, we promise you will get there with them.