Overview

Systematic synthetic phonics is taught daily in EYFS and KS1 and is prioritised as the most important strategy in teaching our early readers the skills, strategies and knowledge needed to succeed, with the ambition that every child is a reader by age 7.

We follow the Little Wandle programme, based on the original Letters and Sounds but extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme that meets all National Curriculum expectations and prepares children to flourish beyond the Phonics Screening Check.

Intent

Our intention is that every child develops a secure foundation in early reading so they can become confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers. We ensure children are systematically taught the building blocks of reading — including phoneme–grapheme correspondences and blending skills — so that all learners, regardless of starting point, have the knowledge and self-belief to become successful, lifelong readers.

Implementation

Through the Little Wandle programme, children:

• learn necessary grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs)

• practise segmenting and blending to read new and familiar words

• apply skills to reading sentences and fully decodable books

Daily phonics lessons include:

• revision of known GPCs

• explicit teaching of new sounds

• opportunities to practise blending and segmenting

• reading fully-decodable books matched to taught sounds

Children read books that only contain previously taught sounds to build confidence and ensure success. Decodable books are shared physically and online with families so parents can support reading at home and be part of our reading community.

Assessment & support

• Rigorous, regular assessment identifies children who need additional support to “keep up.”

• Targeted daily intervention is provided for children in Year 2 and KS2 using the same phonics pedagogy to secure skills and accelerate progress.

Parent partnership

Parents and carers are encouraged to access Little Wandle resources to support learning at home:
(Note: On the school website, the link will be a clickable button rather than a pasted URL)
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Impact

• Children develop secure phonics knowledge and the ability to blend and segment confidently.

• Pupils become fluent readers who enjoy reading and demonstrate strong reading stamina and comprehension as they move through school.

• Most children pass the Phonics Screening Check, with intervention ensuring those who need additional support catch up quickly.

• Children gain the confidence, motivation and skills needed to become lifelong readers.