The Story People

Then and Now
 

Before the Rose Report and the 2013 mandate for synthetic phonics, the way children were taught to read was very different. Teachers had autonomy, and this meant it could very much be hit or miss as to exactly how children were taught. But the great ones, like my mother, achieved miracles.
 

Every child who left her infant classroom could read. She heard every child read their 1, 2, 3 and Away! book every day, working through all 150 in the series before the end of infants—either personally, or with a parent helper or volunteer. Parents came in daily, just for that purpose. They used The Village with Three Corners, written by children’s author Sheila McCullagh (who also wrote the Puddle Lane series, later adapted for TV). It was a beautifully structured reading scheme with Pre-readers, Introductory books, Blue Books, Main Readers, and Red, Green, and Yellow supplementary books called Platform Readers. There were games, workbooks, wooden dolls, and a strong focus on comprehension and the joy of reading. Yes, phonics was taught—but it was not the centrepiece. Teachers understood that children needed to encounter a wide range of frequently used words, and that those words rarely aligned with the Core Code.

What many did not realise then was this: if children had strong phonemic awareness, they could understand how letters and sounds connected and begin decoding unfamiliar words without ever being explicitly taught how. This is different from being hyperlexic. Had that insight been recognised, perhaps Jim Rose would have wanted to build a national strategy around why the 84 percent could read, instead of focusing solely on the 16 percent who could not—and making assumptions about how to teach phonics. He was heavily influenced by staunch synthetic phonics advocates who insisted that if synthetic phonics became the primary focus, illiteracy would be eradicated.

What they—and so many others—failed to recognise is that knowing children need to understand how letters and sounds connect does not mean the how is settled science. Far from it. Many children learned to read with no explicit phonics instruction at all. The focus should have been: how did they do it? And what do we need to give the other children, so that they can do it too—with less instruction? Most children want to get on with learning, with less direction. Humans are designed to crave understanding, and the “how” is not always found in mass-produced, one-size-fits-all teaching. Children want to learn what they need to know, in the moment they need it.

Today, only 73 percent of children reach the expected minimum, despite daily explicit synthetic phonics instruction for two years, and teachers mandated to teach reading in this way. The way children are being taught—en masse—is not working as well today. No one explored the full picture: why 86 percent could read, often being taught using three-cueing or what is call the Searchlights model in England. These children could learn if they had good phonemic awareness, phonological working memory, and vocabulary knowledge—and if they were given daily opportunities to work through a scaffolded series initially based on repetition and predictability. They were able to learn 'speech sound mapping' without much instruction, as the three crucial elements connected (see Speech Sound Mapping Theory)

When something is deeply entrenched in a system, it is often because there is a lot of good in it. Teachers knew that many children were learning to read by memorising a lot of "sight words." But they didn’t always understand why—or who couldn’t. The opportunity to self-teach, when exposed to a wide range of words, has been removed. In fact, current DfE guidance specifies that high-frequency words must be kept to a minimum. Why? Because they include code that is not taught within the Core Code.

We have obtained the publishing rights to The Village with Three Corners and have mapped the first 50 books—pre-readers and introductory readers—using our unique tools that make the entire alphabetic code visible. We are the first and only in the world to do this. We are building on something that worked well for so many, and identifying the at-risk children early on. We also have a system in place to ensure every child learns the Core Code before the end of Reception—without teachers having to teach it directly. (This is the Speech Sound Pics SSP Approach.)
 

Why does it matter? Because of the SEN crisis, and because fewer and fewer children have a teacher like my mum. The curriculum is overloaded. Teachers have less freedom to adapt to individual needs. Fewer parents are invited into classrooms to support reading. And the space to hear every child read daily has been squeezed out by other demands.

Many children back then struggled to connect letters and sounds because their phonemic awareness and working memory challenges were not addressed. But today, other children are missing out because they are not given the opportunity to learn high-frequency words, or to see them within repetitive and predictable texts. By limiting books to words built with the Core Code—plus a very small set of high-frequency words—the DfE removed the opportunity for a huge number of children to figure it out for themselves. They used to be able to do that, with this series.
 

By using the 50 mapped readers, in the ICRWY lessons app, these children can overcome that hurdle. They also become intrinsically motivated to read, because the books revolve around The Story People and help them understand the purpose behind connecting letters and sounds. Phonics, for some, feels abstract. These books make it meaningful.
 

It is frustrating. The Department for Education recently put out a call for evidence in response to the growing SEN crisis. But despite the feedback, they have not reviewed or revised the current heavy reliance on synthetic phonics programmes, nor the Phonics Screening Check. The PSC still does not assess phonemic awareness or phonological working memory—two of the most critical underlying skills for reading success. And it only checks knowledge of the Core Code. A child cannot even decode the title The Village with Three Corners using just the Core Code. Worryingly, they want Phase 1 removed from synthetic phonics programmes, and for children to start learning GPCs from day 1. 

So while we wait for policy to catch up, we act.

We introduce a 10-day Phase 1 plan to target the one in four children most at risk. We support children with tools that let them check any word they cannot read or spell with the Core Code alone. We use our I Can Read Without You (ICRWY) lessons app to guide them through mapped versions of 1, 2, 3 and Away!, while keeping unmarked print versions in hand to build fluency and independence.

In doing so, we reduce cognitive load, bypass the barriers that hold so many back, and create the conditions where less teaching leads to more learning. Reading becomes something children want to do. The right tools give them what they need, so not every child has to rely on having an exceptional teacher in order to succeed.

It may even reduce the number of exceptional teachers leaving the profession. Many are disillusioned by the loss of autonomy and the pressure of rigid frameworks. When teachers see children learning to read in spite of inflexible policy, they regain a sense of joy and purpose in their work.

The Village with Three Corners was never just about learning to read. My mum chose it because of the talking—the conversations about characters and real-life behaviour. The creative role play. The arts and crafts. The singing and rhyming. The maths through playing shop or post office. The knowledge and understanding of the world. And the social learning, like recognising that not all children play nicely (such as Percy Green), or that not all adults are kind or empathetic. Sheila McCullagh, the author, understood the value of exploring real-world scenarios through stories.

To learn more about the original Village with Three Corners handbook, and how we adapted the series, visit the Word Mapping Mastery site.
The Word Mapping Handbook is coming soon.