Phonics

At Millfields we use Little Wandle – revised letters and sounds, to teach reading.

Early Years and KS1

Children start phonic sessions when they join Reception. We hold a Phonics and Reading Information Session for parents to explain how their children will be taught, including the pronunciation of the sounds.

The children in Reception, Year 1 and the start of Year 2 follow our phonics programme precisely. The children have 3 reading sessions a week:

• focussing on reading the words
• prosody and fluency
• comprehension of the text.

An ebook is then sent home for children to read to their parents. The children should be really familiar with the text and be able to read it with 90% accuracy. A reading record book is sent home for parents to comment. A “sharing book” is also sent home, chosen by the child to share with their parents.

Keep up sessions are run daily with children who would benefit from them, to help ensure that they do not fall behind.

Phonics is taught in Year 2 to every child in the Autumn term. This then leads into the Little Wandle Bridge to Spelling scheme. Children who do not pass their statutory phonics assessment in Year 1 are given extra support, including Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up interventions and re-take the assessment at the end of Year 2.

In Year 2 fluent readers follow the path for individual reading, starting on Lime books.

Specific Rapid Catch up interventions can be carried on into Year 3, along with the Rapid Catch Up reading books for children who still need extra support. These children are identified through assessment. A “heat map” is produced of sounds in which they are not secure; these become the focus of the interventions.

If due to individual special needs a child cannot access the phonics phase which their class are on, they are taught separately the phase which is applicable to them. This follows the Little Wandle Special Needs intervention programe.

When children are secure in their phonics (usually Summer of Year 1) they will start written comprehension. This comprehension will be assessed by the PIRA tests, with a standardised score being given. This is then added to our reading tracker.

You will be able to find out more about our Phonics using the buttons below: