Phonics and Reading
‘Leaders prioritise reading. Pupils read a range of interesting books which are well matched to the sounds that they know. Staff are adept at checking for any gaps in pupils’ reading knowledge.’ Ofsted 2022
Through reading, we recognise that pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. It also allows them to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society and early reading is therefore a priority across our Federation.
Phonics
Our phonics and reading sessions are taught systematically in EYFS and KS1 classes using the DfE validated programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds draws on the latest research into how children learn best; how to ensure learning stays in children’s long term memory and how best to enable children to apply their learning to become highly competent readers.
Phonics begins in Nursery – Daily ‘phase 1’ activities are introduced to embed the foundations for phonics. This will ensure children are well prepared to begin grapheme–phoneme correspondence and blending at the start of Reception. Daily phonic sessions continue into Year 1 and the Autumn term in Year 2.
Throughout the phonics programme, progress is tracked and monitored closely to identify children who require ‘keep up’ sessions. These short sessions will be specific to individual needs and will take place throughout the school day.
Children in Year 2 (from Spring term) and in Key Stage 2 will continue to receive support through “rapid catch up” interventions until they have a secure knowledge of phonic phases 1-5.
For more information about our progamme of study, how to write and pronounce each sound and for our phonics and reading policy, please click the links below and also visit the parent section of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds website.
Please click on the following links to access:
Phonics-and-Early-Reading-Policy-2024-25
Reception Autumn 1 Letter formation and Pronunciation guide
Reception Autumn 2 Letter formation and Pronunciation guide
How-to-say-Phase-3-sounds and How-to-say-the-Phase-5-sounds
Capital Letter Formation Guide
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Please click on the link to access: Powerpoint for Parents Presentation
Reading
The importance of reading is emphasised within The Federation and much of our learning in English lessons is focussed around high-quality texts.
Children adopt a love of reading due to staff being enthusiastic and having a passion for literature. Reading for pleasure is encouraged in a range of ways including through reading areas, use of our library, book battles and more.
Our children are provided with a selection of books each week to be read both in school and at home. The books follow pupils developing phonics knowledge in accordance with ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds’ from the Collins Big Cat for Letters and Sounds Scheme.
Older children who read fluently, are encouraged to read high quality texts accessed from their class libraries and the school libary.
Reading is assessed on a daily basis but more formally at the end of every term. Fluency Checks are also carried out using the Collins Fluency Assessment.
Staff work closely with parents to ensure that reading is being practised both in school and at home. Parents are supported by staff in order to help their children learn and progress in decoding, prosody and comprehension.
Please click on the links below to access various reading resources:
Please click on the links below to access reading lists for each year group:
Recommended-books-for-Foundation-stage
100 books to try and read in Years-3-and-4
100 books to try and read in Years-5-and-6
