Phonics and Early Reading

Phonics Teaching and Learning

We follow the DfE approved, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme to teach phonics in Reception and Year 1. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. Based on the original Letters and Sounds, it’s been extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme to meet all the expectations of the National Curriculum and prepares children to go beyond the expectations of the phonics screening check.

Children in Year R and Year 1 receive daily phonics sessions with their class teacher, during which they review sounds and words they have recently learnt, are taught a new sound / s or tricky words, have to time to practise their new knowledge along with their skills of segmenting and blending, and then apply it in their reading and writing. Children are taught to use pure sounds to pronounce all of the 44 phonics sounds, or phonemes, used in the English language. For help with how to pronounce pure sounds, click here.

Children in Year 2 continue to have daily phonics sessions in the autumn term, transitioning to a focus on using their phonics knowledge for spelling. During this time they review and extend their learning from Year R and Year 1.

As children progress into KS2, they continue to apply their phonics and early reading skills as they follow a rich and varied scheme of reading lessons and read a wide range of high quality texts. We have developed a progressive spelling scheme that builds upon their phonics knowledge and is delivered in a short, daily sessions following a similar format to the one described above for a phonics session.

Reading Books

As children learn to read, they are assigned decodable reading practice books that are carefully matched to their current phonics knowledge in order to develop their reading accuracy and fluency. These are known as their ‘reading practise books’, and are assigned online. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Please, listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success. If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. Therefore, each week your child will bring home a ‘sharing book’; a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

We wouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Please read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book.

Assessment and Support

Children are assessed each half term and any children who may be struggling with their phonics are assigned extra support from our phonics intervention teacher. Children have regular opportunities to read aloud to an adult in school each week, and are encouraged to read regularly at home. In addition, children listen to and talk about a rich and diverse range of stories, poems and songs in class, and have the opportunity to choose a school library book during their weekly visits to the library to take home and share with members of their family.

For further advice about how to support your child when reading at home, please click here.