Phonics & Reading

Phonics and Reading at Staynor Hall

Intent

At Staynor Hall, we believe that all our children can become fluent, confident and enthusiastic 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 Phase One Phonics in Esk and begin following Little Wandle in Reception. This follows 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.

Our aim is for all our children to be respectful, lifelong learners, who can make a meaningful contribution to their community by the time they leave us in Year 6, ready for their next steps in their life journey.  We want our children to go on to live a life of choice and opportunity.

Every child will experience development and growth through exploration, creativity and discovery. Each individual learner is encouraged and supported to live our core values so they can develop determination, collaboration, honesty and their self-belief.

*At Staynor we place high emphasis on teaching high quality phonics  following ‘Little Wandle SSP’

*In Year Two, teachers consolidate Little Wandle before using the National Curriculum to teach the spellings rules enhanced with stimulating, high quality resources and slides/resources. 

*Phonics sessions are taught daily with opportunities in the provision to apply and practise the skills.

*Through the teaching of systematic phonics, we firmly believe that our phonics teaching will ensure that children are confident and accurate readers and writers. This way, children can continue developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school.

* Attainment in phonics is closely monitored by regular assessments in both EYFS and KS1 and the phonics screening Test

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised – Systematic, Synthetic Phonics Programme

Our children are taught phonics and reading through the application of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is a systematic, synthetic phonics programme that was validated by the Department for Education in July 2021. All teachers and teaching assistants have completed training modules provided by Little Wandle to ensure a whole school understanding of the approach. As a result, the programme is followed with consistency across the school with our Reading Lead Mrs. Hunter, supporting staff across the school with the implementation of the programme. 

Daily Phonics Lessons

Phonics is the learning of individual sounds and then applying this to blending sounds to read words. Through daily lessons and repeated practice, a child’s phonic knowledge and skills become more automatic, leading them to become, over time, fluency and competent readers. 

Fully Decodable Books

Collins Big Cat for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised have devised fully decodable books matched to the Little Wandle programme progression. 

In conjunction with daily lessons, children must-read books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge. These books are carefully and precisely matched to the child’s secure phonic level to ensure a reading fluency level of 90%. This automaticity allows the child to then focus on what they are reading, reading to increase memory and understanding of what they have read. These books are read in school on a regular basis and are also shared at home with parents and carers. 

Support at Home

Each child is able to practise a decodable book at home. Suggestions are shared with parents and carers on how they can best and most effectively support their child’s reading at home. Alongside this, we encourage parents and carers to read to their child, even as they grow older, to encourage a love of books as well as developing vocabulary and discussion. 

Parents and carers are also encouraged to complete the Home Reading Diary with positive comments about their child’s reading at home. 

Additional Support

We know that some children may need extra support with their reading. These children are prioritised for sessions with reading volunteers or teaching assistants on a regular basis. 

Resources for Parents 

On the Little Wandle website, there are some excellent resources for parents and carers in the “For Parents” section. 

By following this link, you will be able to see the full progression grid from Reception to the end of Year 1. You will see which sounds and words your child will be learning at which point of their phonics and reading journey. 

Progression grid for phonics

In this link, you will find videos of how to correctly pronounce the sounds that each letter makes, the correct formation of each letter, and how to write capital letters. 

Little Wandle for parents

Staynor-Hall-EYFS-handbook

Other Resources

Phonics and Early reading policy

Grapheme mats phase 2,3 and 5

Phonics programme overview Reception

Pronunciation guide Autumn 1

Pronunciation guide Autumn 2

Grapheme information sheet phase 3 spring 1

Grapheme mat phase 2 and 3

Programme overview Year 1

Phonics terminology