The initiative is designed to help pupils who achieve below Level 4 in literacy at Key Stage 2. The government believes that supporting these pupils to catch up with their peers before the start of secondary school will help to narrow attainment gaps at GCSE.

Schools can start bidding now for a share in the £10m on offer to run the projects. Other organisations, including charities, local authorities and universities, can also bid. The DfE has suggested that projects could take the form of extra support, such as:

• small catch-up classes
• one-to-one tuition using innovative approaches
• vouchers for parents to spend on literacy tuition.

Secondary schools can no longer assume that the teaching of basic reading skills is complete by the end of primary education. Karen Lockney looks at strategies to help readers of all abilities at secondary level.