Intent 

Phonics (reading and spelling) 

At Foresters Primary School, 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. 

Comprehension 

At Foresters 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. 

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:  

o sharing high-quality stories and poems  

o learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes 

o activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending

o 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 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:

o 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.

o Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.  

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

Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read. 

• Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support taught by a 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 or 3 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 Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach these using the Keep-up resources – at pace.  

Teaching reading: Reading practice sessions three times a week 

• We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week.  These: 

o are taught by a trained adult to small groups of approximately six children o use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little  Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments  

o 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: 

o decoding 

o prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression

o comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.  

• In Reception, these sessions usually 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 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.  

Home reading 

• A decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family.  

o All children have the opportunity to visit the school library on a weekly basis.  Children select a reading-for-pleasure book, which goes home for parents to share and read to children.  

o 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.  

Ensuring consistency and pace of progress 

• Every teacher in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectations of progress. We all use the same language, routines and resources to  teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load. 

• Weekly content grids map each element of new learning to each day, week and term for the duration of the programme.  

• Lesson templates, Prompt cards and How to videos ensure teachers all have a  consistent approach and structure for each lesson. 

• SLT uses the Audit and Prompt cards to monitor and observe teaching regularly; they use the summative data to identify children who need additional support and gaps in learning.  

Ensuring reading for pleasure  

‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.’ (OECD 2002) ‘The will influences the skill and vice versa.’ (OECD 2010) 

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy. 

• We read to children every day. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at  Foresters Primary School and our local community, as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures. 

• Every classroom has an inviting book corner that encourages a love for reading. We curate these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books.  

• In Nursery/Reception, children have access to the reading corner every day in their free flow time.

• Children from Reception onwards have a home reading record. The parent/carer records comments to share with the adults in school, and the adults will write in this on a regular basis to ensure communication between home and school. 

• As the children progress through the school, they are encouraged to write their own comments and keep a list of the books/authors that they have read. 

• The school library is available to all classes to use at protected times.