And there are signs that not enough attention is being paid to children's writing.

An interim report by Her Majesty's Inspectors on the strategy - which was launched in England's schools last September - says there are encouraging signs of improvement.

Schools are implementing the strategy and teachers are positive about it, they say. The quality of teaching is better than it was in the first year of the pilot project.

The strategy has had "a strong impact" in reception classes, where most teachers are teaching the full literacy hour, and there is "a high proportion of good teaching" in Years 5 and 6.

Writing neglected

But weaknesses include the teaching of phonics and word level work in general, teaching in Years 3 and 4, teaching of writing, and the organisation of independent work in the third part of the literacy hour.

The Head of Ofsted's Primary and Nursery Division, Keith Lloyd, said:

"Teachers are making encouraging progress in teaching the literacy hour, but they need to get the balance right between teaching reading and writing, as writing is relatively neglected."

The hour is divided up as follows: half an hour of whole class teaching, 20 minutes of group work with independent reading, writing or word work and guided reading or writing, and 10 minutes presenting the work done and reviewing what has been learned.

Targets

Pupils currently in Year 3 - roughly the eight-year-olds - are crucial to meeting the targets the government has set itself for improving children's performance by 2002 in national tests at the age of 11 - because they are the group whose performance will be measured that year.

The report says more good teaching will be necessary if the targets are to be met.

The School Standards Minister, Estelle Morris, said the report was very encouraging.

"However, there is no room for complacency," she said. "The report identifies where further improvements are needed if we are to continue to raise standards in literacy and achieve the targets.

"We are taking steps to address these concerns by providing additional training in the teaching of writing and phonics."

Communicating fundamentals

The inspectors visited 138 schools and observed 276 literacy hours. They recommend that greater attention be given to:

• improving the effectiveness of headteachers in leading and managing the strategy
• providing further training in the teaching of word level work
• improving the subject knowledge of teachers other than literacy co-ordinators
• giving greater emphasis to the teaching of writing
• ensuring that the fundamental principles of the strategy are communicated to those teaching the literacy hour.

The literacy hour does not have statutory force but ministers and the Office for Standards in Education have made it clear they would take a dim view of schools not following it.