We believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.
We value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.
Our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background.
Parents are encouraged to share books and stories at home as research shows that children who regularly engage with and listen to stories go on to become better readers than those who don’t have early book and reading experiences. Back-and-forth interactions have been shown to be one of the best ways to develop children’s language.
Foundations for phonics in Nursery
We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:
- sharing high-quality stories and poems
- learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
- activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
- attention to high-quality language.
We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.
Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1
We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent reader
Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
Children in Year 1 review Phases 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read
Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Rapid Catch-up assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Rapid Catch-up resources – at pace. These short, sharp lessons last 15-20 minutes daily and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in reading.
How can I read a wordless book?
Wordless books are invaluable as they teach reading behaviours and early reading skills to children who are not yet blending. Talk to your child about what they can see in the pictures. Point to the images in the circles and find them on the page. Encourage your child to make links from the book to their own experiences.
What about words that can’t be read easily with phonics?
Some common words are unusual and do not make sense with phonics until much later in your child’s reading journey, for example, ‘was’ and ‘the’. We call these words ‘tricky words’ and we teach these words differently. We help children to identify the bit that does make sense and the part that is tricky.
What can I do to support my child at home?
Ask them what sounds they have learned each day and point out objects in the environment or in books that start with that sound. Read to your child daily – choose books that you can enjoy together. Listen to them practise reading their phonics book to develop their fluency.
Phonics & Early Reading policy
The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters.
Year 1 sounds
How to write capital letters
Videos to show how to say the sounds correctly