Intent
Phonics (reading and spelling)
At St Denys we believe that all our children can become fluent readers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching from 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. At St Denys 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 St Denys, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time our children leave us, we want them to be able to 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.
At St Denys we believe teaching every child to read is so important, and we have a Reading Leader who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled in teaching phonics and reading, and they monitor and support our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
Implementation
Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1
- We teach phonics daily. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons 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 3 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.
Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read
- Any child in Reception and Year 1 who is identified as needing additional practice has Daily Keep-up support and is taught by a fully trained adult.
- Daily Keep-up lessons follow the Little Wandle progression and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition so that every child secures their learning.
Daily phonics and spelling in Year 2
- Year 2 begins by using assessment to ensure that children have completed the Little Wandle Year 1 progression. Any gaps in teaching are addressed through daily phonics lessons until the programme is completed. Corresponding summative assessments are carried out to ensure this content is secure.
- Once all the Year 1 content has been taught and assessed, we teach a five-week Phase 5 review. This ensures that children secure the trickier elements of Phase 5 and can apply this alphabetic knowledge in both reading and spelling.
- We reassess after teaching the Phase 5 review, and any children with larger gaps in their phonic knowledge than their peers then continue to have daily phonics teaching.
- We also timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 who is not at age-related expectations for reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check.
Teaching reading:
- We teach reading practice sessions once a week. These:
- are taught by the class teacher 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
- During the session the children have a clear focus – they learn to develop phonemic awareness, vocabulary and comprehension as well as book behaviours.
- In Reception, these sessions start after the first Phase 2 assessment has been completed. Some children will begin with wordless books, whilst they review GPCS and are taught blending using teacher-led blending. Once children can blend, they progress onto decodable books matched to their secure phonic knowledge.
- In Year 2, we ensure children complete reading the core programme decodable books (up to Phase 5 Set 5). To exit the programme, we complete the final fluency assessment to ensure children can read with adequate speed and accuracy: approximately 60 words per minute with 90%+ accuracy.
Home reading
- The decodable reading practice book is taken home each week to ensure the children’s success is shared with the family.
- Reading for pleasure books also go home weekly 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.
Additional reading support for vulnerable children
- Children in Reception and Year 1 who are receiving additional phonics Daily Keep-up sessions read their reading practice book regularly to an adult in school.
- We prioritise children who may not have reading support at home or who may not have access to books. We ensure that they have individual reading times with volunteers and staff to share quality children’s literature to promote a love of reading.
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.
- The Reading Leader regularly monitors and observes teaching; they use the summative data to identify children who need additional support and have 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 St Denys and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.
- Every classroom has an inviting class library 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 Reception, children have access to their class library every day in their free-flow time and the books are continually refreshed.
- All children visit the main school library weekly, where they choose their ‘Reading for Pleasure’ book. Children choose from our range of carefully chosen books to take home and share with an adult. We keep a record of the children’s choices, so we get to know them as readers.
- Children across the school have regular opportunities to engage with a wide range of Reading for Pleasure events (book fairs, author visits and workshops, national events etc).
- We use the Everybody read! resources to grow our teachers’ knowledge of current books, the most recent research and to grow our own Reading for Pleasure practice.
Impact
Assessment
Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.
Assessment for Learning (AfL) is used:
- daily within class to identify children who require Daily Keep-up support, as well as words and GPCs that need additional teaching
- to plan repeated practice throughout the day to ensure all children secure learning
- weekly in the Friday review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.
Summative assessments are uploaded onto the Assessments tracker for Reception and Year 1.
- We assess:
- every six weeks to assess progress and to identify gaps in learning that need to be reviewed or retaught
- to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need
A placement assessment is used:
- with any child new to the school to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and to plan and provide appropriate extra teaching.
Statutory assessment
- Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check. Any child not passing the check resits it in Year 2.
Information for parents and carers
There are helpful information videos on how we teach phonics and reading on our ‘Parents’ section of the school website, or you can visit the Little Wandle website for further information.