Phonics and Early Reading at Holy Family

As part of the government’s efforts to improve literacy levels through high – quality phonics teaching, they have more recently published a list of validated systematic synthetic phonics programmes which they have recommended that schools follow. The aim of these schemes are to give all children a solid base upon which to build as they progress through school, and to develop in children a habit of reading widely and openly, for both pleasure and information.

Having reflected upon this advice, by conducting research and considering our current position with regard to the teaching of phonics and early reading at Holy Family, we have decided to implement an exciting new approach to this area of our curriculum through engagement with ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’.

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised covers phonics teaching from the beginning of Reception through to the end of Year 1; beginning at Phase 2, finishing at Phase 5 and extending provision for those children who may need it during their journey of learning. In addition, within the Nursery phase, it provides the children with a range of foundations such as oral blending to support their progress as they move forward with their learning.

Phonemic awareness (distinguishing the sounds which make up words) is a crucial skill underpinning phonics and reading; something which is strengthened through the early learning of phonics. Therefore, all of our children in Reception and Key Stage 1 take part in revised daily Little Wandle phonics lessons. These sessions are taught within the children’s classrooms, ensuring that there is both pace and progression for all of our children.

Alongside these daily phonics sessions, once children are ready to, they take part in three reading practise sessions per week. During these sessions, the children have the opportunity to apply their phonics’ learning when reading a range of decodable books, matched to their current individual progress. These sessions give the children the opportunity to revisit any graphemes and tricky words, explore unfamiliar vocabulary and read with fluency; developing their decoding, prosody and comprehension skills.

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