Reading & Phonics

The subject leader for Literacy is Mrs Binks

Reading Intent, Implementation and Impact (Revised June 2022)

Phonics

In our school, we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is a systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) which is based on the DfE resource ‘Letters and Sounds’. It builds speaking and listening skills and prepares children for reading by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills so that children can become fluent readers. The programme is divided in to overlapping phases as detailed below. Children in Class 1 and 2 will have a daily phonics session where they will learn and practice the skills identified in the table below. They will learn at a steady pace and can learn up to 4 new sounds in a week. Children are assessed regularly, in a relaxed way, so that we understand clearly what they are able to do and so that we can identify any gaps in their knowledge or skills so that we can work with the children to close these gaps. We aim to make phonics sessions fun and interactive by using songs and rhymes, games, actions and lots of visual aids.

More information on Little Wandle can be found here

Phase	Phonic Knowledge and Skills
Phase One (Nursery/Reception)	Activities are divided into seven aspects, including environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and finally oral blending and segmenting.
Phase Two (Reception)	Learning 19 letters of the alphabet and one sound for each. Blending sounds together to make words. Segmenting words into their separate sounds. Beginning to read simple captions.
Phase Three (Reception)	The remaining 7 letters of the alphabet, one sound for each. Graphemes such as ch, oo, th representing the remaining phonemes not covered by single letters. Reading captions, sentences and questions. On completion of this phase, children will have learnt the “simple code”, i.e. one grapheme for each phoneme in the English language.
Phase Four (Reception)	No new grapheme-phoneme correspondences are taught in this phase. Children learn to blend and segment longer words with adjacent consonants, e.g. swim, clap, jump.
Phase Five (Throughout Year 1)	Now we move on to the “complex code”. Children learn more graphemes for the phonemes which they already know, plus different ways of pronouncing the graphemes they already know.
Phase Six (Throughout Year 2 and beyond)	Working on spelling, including prefixes and suffixes, doubling and dropping letters etc.

Little Wandle phonics and early reading policy

Reading in EYFS and KS1

In EYFS and KS1, we use the Harper Collins ‘Big Cat’ reading books and we supplement this with some books from the Project X range from Oxford University Press. Children work through the books throughout their time in school as they gradually in

crease in difficulty. The books progress from wordless books, where children are asked to describe what is happening in the pictures to tell a story, to books with phonics decodable words and books which have a range of more complex words. Reading books are matched to the child’s phonics ability.

In school reading sessions, we follow the Little Wandle recommended reading book according to the phonics phase the children are working in. Throughout the reading stages, pupils are asked comprehension questions to check their understanding of words and stories.

Reading in KS2

In KS2, children can use Collins ‘Big Cat’ reading scheme books for their choice of home reading book .Their reading book will be matched to their reading ability. More able readers may have free choice of non-scheme books as their home reader.

Children are encouraged to read at home as often as possible and there are adults in school who will also listen to the children read. As they move through KS2, children are increasingly encouraged to change their own reading books and they also have the opportunity to select books of their choice from the library to read at home and in school during our daily quiet reading sessions.

In whole class or group reading sessions, we teach the skills that children need in order to be able to read and understand a range of text types. We use a wide variety of books according to the children’s needs and the learning objective. This may include texts from other curriculum subjects or may be using the class novel that is being studied in the literacy lessons.

Children who are identified as needing additional support with reading are given intervention in reading comprehension to enable them to make good progress. the period of intervention required is determined by which specific reading skills the children are experiencing difficulty with.

How can I help my child become a better reader?

As with anything, performance improves with practice. Encourage your child to read at home. Create a culture of reading in your household by reading with your child, starting a home library, visiting your local library or bookshop on a regular basis, letting your child see you reading and discussing books that each of you have read.

When reading with your child, stop and ask questions to be sure your child is comprehending what is read. Reading with your child, no matter what the child’s age, is an

important part of developing a good reader.

Here are some useful tips for reading with your child at home.