Phonics and Early Reading

In school, we teach phonics using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised sytematic synthetics phonics programme (SSP).  As children move through the stages of acquiring phonics, they practise by reading texts which are entirely decodable for them.  We use both Pearson 'Bug' books and Collins 'Big Cat' books.

Once children have a secure knowledge of letter/sound correspondences and can blend words confidently, they access our reading scheme which has books from Collins 'Big Cat' and is designed to give children experience of a variety of reading genres. There are fiction and non-fiction books within each level.   Children will also have an additional book to share from the classroom or library.   All children are encouraged to select books from the classroom, library or home to share with their parents to encourage a love of reading.

In school, children take part in taught reading practice sessions to develop and practise their skills of decoding, comprehension and prosody. The books used are carefully matched to a child's phonetic knowledge following careful assessment to ensure the child's success and learning is maximised.

In EYFS and Year 1 (and in Year 2 when appropriate), this takes the form of a small group session called a ' Reading Practice Session', using sets of decodable Big Cat books and following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised (SSP) approach. 

Children have two reading practice sessions each week.   In the first session, the teaching is focused on developing phonetic confidence and decoding skills, whereas in the second session, the focus is on developing comprehension and prosody.  Children then take this book home to share with their families and to celebrate their reading progress. 

We continue to teach phonics and spelling rules throughout the school to ensure that children's spelling and reading continues to develop. Our older children develop their reading skills through taught fluency reading practice sessions and 'book power hour' (whole class reading sessions) which enable the class teacher to teach and assess specific reading skills (VIPERS).

Please click here for some additional Little Wandle resources for parents.