Phonics

How we teach phonics

• In reception and Y1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
• Phonics starts in reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.
• By the end of reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
• By the end of year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
• Reception lessons start at 10 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing to 30 minutes as soon as possible.
• Y1 lessons are 30 minutes long.
• In Y2-Y6 there are planned phonic ‘catch-up’ sessions following a set model to address specific reading/writing gaps. These are short, sharp sessions lasting 10 minutes in length and taking place at least two times a week.

Parent Phonics Support Video

The video below explains what phonics is and how it is taught in school, guiding parents through the key approaches we use to help children learn to read and write. We hope you find it useful. 

Phonics and Handwriting Workshop

Reading practice sessions

• Children across reception, year 1, year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a full matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
• These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen two times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
• The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
• The children then take the same book home to ensure success is shared with the family.
• In reception these sessions start in week 4. Children who are not decoding, do a little blending lesson, following the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sound Revised.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

• Children across reception, year 1, year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a full matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
• These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen two times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
• The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
• The children then take the same book home to ensure success is shared with the family.
• In reception these sessions start after the first Little Wandle Assessment. Children who are not decoding, do a little blending lesson, following the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sound Revised.

By KS2, we expect all pupils to be ready for the whole class reading sessions which are undertaken at least 4 times a week. We use a VIPERS strategy to reinforce teaching of vocabulary, inference, prediction, evaluation, recall and summary. The focus here is on vocabulary development, the development of specific reading skills and immersion in a wide range of texts. These lessons use class novels  as a stimulus for deeper thinking and link a range of fiction and non-fiction texts to these in order to further develop contextual knowledge and understanding.  Children use reading journals to record their ideas and answers to comprehension questions.

Lesson structure in Year 3 / 4

• Mon, Tues, Thurs - fiction and non-fiction texts used.
• Each session consists of the following:
  • Pre-teach vocabulary
  • Read the text
  • Class discussion
  • Echo reading (if fiction)
  • 5 minutes of paired reading

Lesson structure in Year 5 /6

• Monday Tuesday Wednesday is reading based on a shared text
• Thursday non-fiction text
• Friday – SATS style questions and discussion
• Each session consists of the following:
  • Highlight any unknown vocabulary
  • Preteach/discuss any vocabulary
  • Read the text
  • Discuss the text with the class
  • Answer questions about the text

Over a year, children will have access to a range of different texts which have been carefully chosen in order for children to successfully navigate reading with confidence. These are based on Doug Lemouv 5 plagues of the developing reader. We believe, if we expose pupils to books that feature these complexities we are ensuring rigour in their reading which then prepares them for the next stage of their education.

There are reasons for every novel choice – everything we do has a purpose. Here are some of the possible reasons for our choices:

• The book is absolutely ‘unputdownable’
• Archaic texts – we believe that all children should know fairy tales and read some classic literature
• To allow us to revisit knowledge from topics studied in previous year groups or to pre-teach knowledge for future year groups
• The book links to one of our values as a school
• The book teaches us how to be a good human through expanding our understanding of the broader world and developing empathy

We also promote reading for pleasure as this itself plays a major role within reading development. Each day the children will be read aloud to. This is often held before or after lunch so that it does not get missed off the busy day. In Reception, a story is usually enjoyed during snack time. Each class has a well-stocked library and books are celebrated regularly with recommendations from teachers. Our reading environment also promotes the whole school love of reading. 

Reading volunteers

We are incredibly lucky to welcome some fantastic reading volunteers to join us in school to read with the children. We have a volunteer reader manual which supports them to work through a reading session with the children and also provides them with questions to ask such as:

• Where can we find the blurb?
• Is there a contents page?
• What made you choose this book?
• What do you think this book is going to be about?
• What genre do you think this book is?

Reading guide for TAs and volunteers

Click on the links to see our Reading Overviews and Phonics and Early Reading progression document:

Progression Grid

Y1/2 Reading

Y3/4 Reading

Y5/6 Reading