Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.    Ruth Bader Ginsburg

At St. John’s C of E 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. 

SEE BELOW FOR GENERAL INFORMATION.

STAY TUNED FOR PHONICS WORKSHOP DATES IN THE AUTUMN TERM 24!

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: 

• 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.  

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 on pages 11–20 of ‘Application of phonics to reading’. 

• 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 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 

• 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. 

Statutory assessment 

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