How we teach phonics

• In reception and year 1, 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.
• Year 1 lessons are 30 minutes long.
• In Years 2 and 3, phonic lessons are taught daily to children where appropriate – following the model of Little Wandle but plugging specific gaps identified through assessment.

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.
• For reception and year 1, these sessions are 15 minutes long and happen 2 - 3 times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
• The 3 sessions focus on building the children's decoding, prosody and comprehension skills.
• The children then take the same book home via the Collins E-Library to ensure success is shared with the family, and fluency and confidence is built upon.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

• In reception and year 1, at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
• In reception and year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
• The children in year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
• Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening Check in year 1, will re-sit this in year 2.

If you are a parent and would like more information about how to support your child with phonics at home, please follow this link to find the Reception and Year 1 overview as well as videos of the sound pronunciations, letter formation sheets and other helpful resources.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/