We have high expectations for every child and aim for all children to become confident, fluent and independent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. We achieve this through the consistent and effective teaching of our chosen Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

Our Approach

Our phonics teaching is designed to:

• Provide a high-quality, systematic approach to phonics, enabling children to use their phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words.
• Ensure that phonics is taught consistently, with a strong focus on pace and progression.
• Identify and address gaps in children’s phonics knowledge quickly through additional support and ‘Keep-up’ sessions.
• Provide children with carefully matched, fully decodable reading books that reflect the sounds and graphemes they have been taught.
• Develop confident, fluent readers who enjoy reading and have a lifelong love of books.

Daily Phonics Lessons

We begin teaching phonics in Reception. Every child in reception, year 1 and year 2 have a daily phonics lesson following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression. Children build their knowledge of the alphabetic code step by step, learning to read and spell as they progress through school.

We use the Little Wandle progression to ensure that children learn new sounds and graphemes in a carefully sequenced way, building securely on their previous learning.

Reading Practice Sessions

Alongside daily phonics lessons, children take part in three reading practice sessions each week. These sessions develop:

• Decoding – using phonics knowledge to read unfamiliar words.
• Prosody – developing expression, phrasing and fluency when reading.
• Comprehension – developing understanding and enjoyment of what they read.

Children read books that are carefully matched to their secure phonics knowledge. This means that they can experience success and develop confidence as readers.

The same decodable book is then sent home so that children can proudly share their reading with their families.

Working with Parents and Carers

We believe that parents and carers play an important role in helping children become confident readers. Children in EYFS and KS1 take home a phonetically decodable book matched to their phonic ability and stage they are at within the Little Wandle Scheme. Parents are encouraged to support reading at home and children are expected to read daily.

For more information and useful resources to support your child at home, please visit:

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds – Resources for Parents

www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk

Key Vocabulary 

Blend – saying the individual sounds that make up a word and then merging or blending the sounds together to say a word. 

Digraph – two letters which together make one sound. Eg: ee, oa, ea, ch, ay. 

Grapheme – written letters or a group of letters which represent one single sound (phoneme). Eg. a, l, sh, air, ck.

Phoneme – a single sound that can be made by one or more letters. Eg: s, k, z, oo, ph, igh. 

Phonics – phonics teaches children to listen to and identify the sounds that make up words. This helps them to read and write words. 

Segment – this is the opposite of blending. Splitting a word up into individual sounds.