As advisers for Kent primary schools, we feel happy and confident to promote Red Squirrel decodable books to our English Leaders. We particularly like the clarity of each page, the simplicity of the font and the presentation of clear pictures, which are easy to process and understand. Even the earliest books are based on a meaningful story, making them interesting to read and talk about. There’s plenty of guidance inside the cover for the adult too. It’s very easy to see at a glance which phonemes and graphemes are included, so that the book can be matched to what the child already knows. This scheme could be used alongside the Letters and Sounds phonics programme, as it complements (rather than copies) each phase from phase 2.

Raintree’s phonics programme does an excellent job of teaching children to decode, but the resources offer plenty more besides...What is most impressive is the clarity of the learning journey. The books are designed for success from the outset and Red Squirrel Phonics has pitched the challenge of each text perfectly.