The aim of this study using a quasi-experimental design was to investigate whether utilising synthetic phonics in schools catering for low-income families in India would increase reading and spelling attainment in English. Over 500 children in 20 schools took part in the 6-month programme. Just over half of the children experienced lessons organised around the synthetic phonics materials, whilst the other children continued with their normal English lessons. The findings show that there were statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups in the improvements of the children in their test scores in reading and spelling. (Contains 10 tables, 3 figures, and 1 note.)