Phonics and Early Reading

At High Oakham Primary School, our Phonics and early reading is taught using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Phonics programme. Phonics is a method schools use to teach your child to read the sounds in words. It helps your child to learn to read quickly and skillfully and is an essential part of your child’s early education. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme developed for schools by schools. It has been developed based on the original Letters and Sounds, but extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme meeting all the expectations of the National Curriculum for Reading, preparing your child to go beyond the expectations of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check and to provide your child with the knowledge and skills that they need to become a lifelong reader!

 F1

F1 – Nursery

During their time in Nursery children focus on Phase 1 phonics. This phase concentrates on children’s speaking and listening skills and lays the foundation for them to become successful readers and writers as they move up the school. Our priority in Nursery is to get children ‘tuned in’ to the sounds around them and develop their oral blending and segmenting skills. We embed our phonics learning throughout our provision and adults playfully lead small group sessions for the children to join. We further support children with the foundations for phonics through our skillful interactions. 

In 'foundations for phonics' we concentrate on the following aspects: 

• General sound discrimination – environmental, instrumental and body percussion. 
• Rhythm and rhyme 
• Alliteration 
• Voice sounds 
• Oral blending and segmenting. 

 F2

F2 – Reception

During their time in Reception, the children will take part in daily Phonics sessions which follow a systematic progression of phonics learning which will cover:

• all the phonemes of English words (Phase 2 and Phase 3 taught in F2)

• correct pronunciation of the phonemes

• all commonly occurring grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) (Phase 2 and Phase 3 taught in F2)

• the correct formation of all graphemes

• blending for reading

• segmenting for writing

• the sequenced learning of appropriate tricky words (the most common will be taught in F2).

Once the children have learnt all the Phase 2 graphemes, they will be taught how to write capital letters.

 F2 Teaching Programme Overview

Reading Practice Sessions

When they are able to segment and blend, the children will also take part in Reading Practice sessions. These sessions are run in small groups of around 6 children, are timetabled three times a week and taught by a trained adult. The book the children will be reading, will be carefully matched to their secure phonic knowledge.

The children will only begin these sessions once they are able to blend sounds to read simple words. As this happens at different times for children, some children will begin reading practice sessions sooner than others. Any child who cannot blend will be given additional blending practice every day until they can blend and can begin reading practice sessions. Children will bring their reading book home for additional practise and so that you can see the phonemes and tricky words that they have been working on and the progress that they are making with their reading.

As the children will also be using their reading book during the Reading Practice sessions in school, it is vital that your child brings their book in their reading packet to school every day.

Additional Support for Parents

Use the links below for resources to help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home. 

Parents Guide to pronouncing phonemes

How We Teach

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A Reading Practice book. This will be carefully matched to the appropriate phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently. It is crucial that they have opportunities to read their book to develop fluency and prosody (expression) and also their understanding of the text (comprehension). Each book has activities inside the front and back cover to work on with your child as well as listening to them read the book.

A Reading for Pleasure book.  This book has been chosen by your child from the class set of quality texts. It is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading Practice books

These books are carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. This book will have been read in school during three reading practice sessions with a trained adult during the week.

Listen to them read and reread the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, encourage them to ‘soundtalk’ (segment and blend) the word. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Reading for Pleasure book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they have many opportunities to read for pleasure. Your child’s weekly Reading for Pleasure book is a book that they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the illustrations, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

All resources can also be found at

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Key Stage 1 - Year 1

In Year 1, the children will continue to take part in daily Phonics sessions which follow a systematic progression of phonics learning which will cover:

• all the phonemes of English words (Phase 5 is taught in Year 1)

• correct pronunciation of the phonemes

• all commonly occurring grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs)

• the correct formation of all graphemes

• blending for reading

• segmenting for writing

• the sequenced learning of appropriate tricky words.

The children will initially recap Phase 3 and Phase 4 before moving on to learning Phase 5 grapheme phoneme correspondences.

Keep Up Intervention

 Year 1 Teaching Programme Overview

Reading Practice Sessions

The children will also take part in reading practice sessions. These sessions are run in small groups of around 6 children, are timetabled three times a week and taught by a trained adult. The book that each child will be reading, will be carefully matched to their secure phonic knowledge.

The children will only begin these sessions once they are able to blend sounds to read simple words. As this happens at different times for children, some children will begin reading practice sessions sooner than others. Any child who cannot blend will be given additional blending practice every day until they can blend and can begin reading practice sessions.

Supporting your child with Reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A Reading Practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A Reading for Pleasure.  Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. This book will have been read in school during a reading practice session with a trained adult before being sent home.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Reading for Pleasure book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The Reading for Pleasure book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

All resources can also be found at

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Key Stage 1 - Year 2

This year in Year 2, the children will initially start the Autumn term recapping and revisiting Phase 5 during daily Phonics sessions. This is in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check which will be completed in second half of the Autumn term.

Any children who do not reach the expected standard, will continue to have daily phonics support and Keep Up intervention to support them to reach the expected standard ready for the statutory check in June 2022.

Once the Phonics Screening Check in completed during the Autumn term, the children will progress to the spelling curriculum as set out in the National Curriculum for Year 2. Children who are still not secure with Phase 2 to Phase 5, will continue to receive Phonics sessions throughout the week until they are assessed as secure.

Guidance Glossary

Phonics

The method by which we teach children to read by recognising the connections between the sounds of spoken words (phonemes) and the letters that are used to write them down (graphemes).

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that can be identified in words. We sometimes simply call this a ‘sound’, although it is helpful for children to use the term ‘phoneme’ from the beginning of our programme.

Grapheme

A letter or group of letters used to represent a particular phoneme when writing. With children, we sometimes call this ‘a sound written down’, although, as with ‘phoneme’, it is helpful for children to learn to use the correct term from the beginning. The way graphemes are used to represent phonemes in our written language is known as the ‘alphabetic code’.

Sound talk or Oral blending

A technique for the early practice of blending. The teacher articulates each phoneme in a word separately, in order, and children respond by saying the whole word aloud. Alternatively, they can be asked to blend the word silently and show they have done so by responding with some action, for example, touching their head, after the teacher has pronounced the separate phonemes in the word ‘head’. Such practice is valuable both before and during the early stages of learning to read.

Segment

To identify each of the individual phonemes in a word, working all the way through from left to right. This is an important first stage of writing (spelling) a word but needs to be practised orally first. Counting the phonemes is often helpful in reinforcing this process.

Blend

To combine individual phonemes into a whole word, working all the way through from left to right. Once the GPCs involved have been learned, blending is the key process involved in reading words effectively. It is a skill that needs extensive practice. Practice in oral blending is very helpful, both before and during the process of learning to read. It is important to understand that blending sounds into a word is not simply a matter of saying them more quickly, nor of mixing them together like paint. Phonemes need to be joined into one continuous stream of sound to make a spoken word. Extensive practice, following teacher modelling, is the key.

Tricky words

High-frequency words that, although decodable in themselves, cannot be decoded by children using the GPCs they have been taught up to that point. Not all high-frequency words are ‘tricky words’. Many tricky words cease to be tricky in the later stages of our programme, as more GPCs are learned

Sound button

A graphic device to help children recognise the separate phonemes in a printed word. Sound buttons can be used as a support in the early stages of learning. For each word, a dot is placed under any single-letter grapheme and a short horizontal line under the group of letters that form a digraph or trigraph, as shown below.

Digraph

A grapheme using two letters to represent one phoneme. With children, we frequently reinforce it with the mantra ‘two letters, one sound’. At the appropriate stage, it is useful for children to learn to use the term and to understand what it means.

Trigraph

A grapheme using three letters to represent one phoneme. With children, we frequently reinforce it with the mantra ‘three letters, one sound’. At the appropriate stage, it is useful for children to learn to use the term and to understand what it means.

Formation phrase

A memorable phrase used to support the children in forming the letter correctly using directional vocabulary, such as ‘down’, ‘up’, ‘across’ and ‘over’.

Under the snake’s chin, slide down and round its tail.

Group Reading Practice

A group reading session where the children read alongside an adult from books containing known GPCs and tricky words, and have the opportunity to apply and practise their knowledge. The children should be able to access these books with 90% accuracy.

Prosody

The rhythmic and intonational aspect of speech that manifests as expressive reading. It comprises timing, phrasing and intonation, and helps to convey meaning and add ‘life’ to reading.

Fluency

The ability to read accurately with speed and expression. Fluent readers read words automatically without needing to decode. It is at this point that we see them able to focus on comprehension and make sense of what is being read.

Split vowel digraph

A digraph representing a vowel sound where its two letters are split by an intervening consonant (for example, ‘a_e’ in ‘take’). Despite having a consonant in between them, the two letters involved (here ‘a’ and ‘e’) still count as one digraph, making one sound. The vowel sound is pronounced at the position of the first of the two letters of the digraph (that is, in the middle of ‘take’). At early learning stages, a split digraph is often highlighted with a short line joining the two halves of the digraph above the intervening consonant, as shown below.

Phonics Screening Check

A statutory national assessment in England, conducted internally by schools towards the end of Year 1. Its sole purpose is to determine whether a child can phonically decode single words to an annually predetermined national standard.