Cambridge approach to early reading

Reading is one of the most important skills a child will develop, and all children deserve the support they need to become confident, motivated readers.

Our approach is grounded in international research and shaped by listening to educators and children around the world. No single method or material is sufficient on its own. Teaching reading well means supporting a child's developing skills and knowledge, as well as their curiosity, confidence and desire to read. Children come to reading from many different languages, cultures and home experiences. Our approach is designed to work for every child, including those learning in a language different from the one used at home.

How children learn to read

Learning to read is not a single skill. It is a set of connected abilities that develop together. Decoding and comprehension are both essential, and so is motivation: reading for pleasure is strongly associated with attainment. Supporting all three gives every child the best possible foundation.

These three areas are not separate. Children do not first learn to decode words, then understand them, and only later enjoy reading. All three begin early. Before children can read words for themselves, they learn to understand stories and see themselves as readers. The balance also changes from day to day. A child may read a familiar book easily and enjoy it but need to focus hard on decoding a more difficult one. Over time, the balance between the three areas changes, but they all develop from the start.

Strong oracy and spoken language skills provide an essential foundation across all three areas. Phonological awareness (hearing and manipulating sounds within spoken words) and phonemic awareness in particular (the ability to identify individual sounds) underpin decoding. Through conversation, songs, rhymes, storytelling and shared reading, children develop the vocabulary, background knowledge and ability to express and connect ideas that support comprehension and meaning-making. They build enjoyment and help children see themselves as readers. For multilingual learners, drawing on all their languages can strengthen vocabulary, understanding and engagement with texts.