Early Reading and Phonics

Intent

Phonics (reading and spelling)

At Lidget Green Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluentreaders 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. At Lidget Green Primary School, 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.

Comprehension
At Lidget Green Primary School, 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. Because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, we have Early Reading and Phonics Leader who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled at teaching phonics and reading, and they monitor and support our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

Implementation

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 asquickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
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, taught by a fully trained adult. 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.

Teaching reading: Reading practice sessions three times a week

We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These:
are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children
use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book matching grids
are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis.
Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
decoding
prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.
In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books. In Years 1 and 2, we continue to teach reading in this way for children to practise reading with decodable books.

Home reading

The decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family.
Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children. We share the research behind the importance and impact of sharing quality children’s books with parents through workshops, leaflets and the Everybody read! resources.
We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics,
the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision, both online and through workshops.

Additional reading support for vulnerable children

Children in Reception and Year 1 who are receiving additional phonics Keep- up sessions read their reading practice book to an adult daily.
The fluency assessments measure children’s accuracy and reading speed in short one-minute assessments. They also assess when children are ready to exit the Rapid Catch-up programme, which is when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute.

What is Rapid Catch-up?
Every child in Year 2 or above who cannot read at age-related expectations needs urgent targeted support so that they can access the curriculum and enjoy reading as soon as possible. Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up is a complete catch-up programme that mirrors the main phonics programme but has a faster pace. It has been created to help children catch up quickly. By the end of the programme, children should be reading with enough fluency and accuracy to access the curriculum in class, and to read with enjoyment and understanding. Children will be assessed, and this will determine which phase they are taught. They can be taught individually or in groups. The children will be taught a daily lesson lasting 15 to 20 minutes.

Little Wandle Fluency
Little Wandle Fluency is for children who have completed Little Wandle or another SSP and are secure at reading the final level of decodable books. The programme develops all aspects of reading using a wide range of vibrant, diverse and engaging chapter books created by contemporary authors and illustrators. Fluency levels 1-5 are for children in Year 2 and above who are reading at a speed of 60–90 words per minute with 90% accuracy. The books are fully decodable once children have been taught some additional GPCs using the ‘Complete the code’ chart. Lessons should be taught in groups of six to ten children. Fluency levels 6–10 are for children in Year 3 and above who are reading at a speed of 95–120 words per minute with 90% accuracy. The books are not phonically controlled. Lessons should be taught in groups of up to 15 children.

Impact

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.

Assessment for learning is used:

daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.

Summative assessment for Reception and Year 1 is used:

every six weeks to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.
by SLT and scrutinised through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. Revised assessment tracker, to narrow attainment gaps between different groups of children and so that any additional support for teachers can be put into place.

Fluency assessments

measure children’s accuracy and reading speed in short one-minute assessments. They are used:
in Year 1, when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books
with children following the Rapid Catch-up programme in Years 2 to 6, when they are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books to assess when children are ready to exit their programme.
Older children can exit the Rapid Catch-up programme when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute. At these levels, children should have sufficient fluency to tackle any book at age- related expectations. After exiting their programme, children do not need to ready any more fully decodable books.

A placement assessment is used:

with any child new to the school in Reception and Year 1 to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan and provide appropriate extra teaching.

The Rapid Catch-up assessment is used:

with any child new to the school in Year 2 and above to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan and provide appropriate extra teaching.

Statutory assessment

Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics screening check. Any child not passing the check re-sits it in Year 2.

Ongoing assessment for Rapid Catch-up in Years 2 to 6:

Children in Year 2 to 6 are assessed through:
the Rapid Catch-up initial assessment to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan appropriate teaching
the Rapid Catch-up summative assessments to assess progress and inform teaching
the Rapid Catch-up fluency assessments when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books for age 7+.
The fluency assessments measure children’s accuracy and reading speed inshort one-minute assessments. They also assess when children are ready to exit the Rapid Catch-up programme, which is when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute.

Please click here for more information about Little wandle for parents

Please click here to be directed to everybody read

Phonics and Early Reading Policy

Dear Parents/Carers,

Just a quick message to say thank you to all the Parents who were able to come to the Parents Phonics and Reading Meeting and open classroom a few weeks ago. We had a fantastic turnout and we really appreciate you taking the time to come in and find out about the Phonics Check and to watch a lesson in action. We hope you enjoyed the lesson and the children were absolutely fantastic in demonstrating their skills in the lesson. Well done!

I have linked the videos on the parent’s section below so you can have a look back and refer to as and when you need to. There are videos and downloadable resources to use.

https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabSupportForPhonics

I have also attached the Presentations from the session.

If you have any further questions regarding Phonics or Reading please do not hesitate to contact me either via dojo or on the door in the morning or at home time. You can also speak at the office and I can get back to you when I can.

Above all, keep doing what you are doing at home and keep up the good work! We really appreciate it.

Kind Regards

Miss Usman

Year 1 Class Teacher and Early Reading and Phonics Lead

Reception parents meeting presentation

Year 1 parents meeting presentation

Year 2 parents meeting presentation