Phonics
At Brookfield Primary School we teach phonics through a systematic and structured phonics programme that will help our children become fluent readers and writers
This year we are excited to be introducing the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme to plan and provide engaging daily phonics lessons.
In phonics, we teach children the phonemes* that letters can make either on their own or together in digraphs* or trigraphs*. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and corresponding letters that they might see when they are reading or writing. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence across five phases. This allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through the school.
How we teach phonics
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In the Nursery, children receive daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
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In Reception and Year1, children are following the progression within the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
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By the end of Reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
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By the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
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Reception lessons start at 10 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing to 20 minutes as soon as possible.
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Year 1 lessons are 20 minutes long.
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Years 2 and 3, phonic lessons are taught daily to children where appropriate – following the model of Little Wandle but plugging specific gaps identified through assessment.
Reading practice sessions
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Children across Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 apply their phonics knowledge by using a fully matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
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These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen three times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
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The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
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The children are then allocated an e-copy of the same book to read at home the following week to ensure success is shared with the family.
How do we assess phonic knowledge?
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In Reception and Year 1, at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
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Children identified in Reception and Year 1 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
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In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
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The children in Year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
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Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, will re-sit this in Year 2.
*phoneme - the sound letters make *grapheme - the written letter form *digraph - two letters making one sound
*trigraph - three letters making one sound
If you are a parent and would like more information about how to support your child with phonics at home, please follow this link to find the Reception and Year 1 overview as well as videos of the sound pronunciations, letter formation sheets and other helpful resources.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
