Little Wandle Phonics

At Necton Primary School, we believe that all our children will 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 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 Necton Primary 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.

Implementation

Nursery

In Nursery we follow the Little Wandle Foundations pre-phonics programme which is designed to help build strong foundations for reading in Nursery in preparation for daily phonics lessons in Reception.

lw foundations getting started foundations for phonics guidance parent handout pd finallayout 130723 1 .pdf

We use it as part of your wider provision for Communication and Language, and Literacy.

It supports our children to:
• develop their phonological awareness, including understanding of rhyme, alliteration,
syllables, initial and voice sounds, and oral blending
• love stories and rhymes
• increase their vocabulary and confidence to talk
• improve their listening and ability to take part in back-and-forth conversations.

Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

We teach phonics for up to 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 Phase 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 who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 or 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Keep-up resources – at pace.
If any child in Year 3 to 6 has gaps in their phonic knowledge when reading or writing, we plan phonics ‘ rapid catch-up’ lessons to address specific reading/writing gaps.

SEND

‘Children (with SEND) have to navigate the same written language, unlock the same
alphabetic code, learn the same skills, and learn and remember the same body of
knowledge as their peers. It is a critical skill in helping them prepare for adulthood.’
The Reading Framework (DfE, 2023)

At our school learning to read matters for every child or young person, regardless of their starting points or learning needs. Some children may be taught the core programme with some adaptations to pace, lesson structure or resources with additional daily keep up sessions. For children who have complex SEND needs that are
likely to require fundamental changes to the pace and lesson structure of phonics teaching, we follow the Little Wandle SEND programme through daily 1:1 sessions as these children may not yet ready for phonics and/or who need to develop phonological awareness.

Please see the files below for more information and resources from Little Wandle.

programme overview reception and year 1 1.pdf

pronunciation guide autumn 1 3 .pdf