Phonics and Early Reading at Southfields Primary School 

At Southfields we believe that the teaching of a high quality systematic synthetic  phonics programme  is the approach to becoming a fluent reader and writer.

We teach phonics using the ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’ to plan and teach our daily Phonics lessons.  In Phonics we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent different sounds and that these sounds can be put together in different combinations to make different words. Children are taught to recognise these different combinations so they can use them in their reading and writing. 

How We Teach Phonics

• In Reception lessons start at 10 minutes but this increases as quickly as possible to 30 minutes. Children in  Year 1 have  a daily 30 minute phonics lesson and both year groups follow the progression of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised with a review session on  Friday.

• By the end of Reception children will have been taught to the end of phase 4 

• By the end of Year 1 children will have been taught to the end of phase 5 

• Please see the overview attached to outline the phases. 

 

Reading Practise Sessions

• In Reception and Year 1 children have reading practise sessions which take place 3 times a week for 20 mins following the model in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

• There are about 6 children in each group.

• We use fully decodable books so the children can apply their phonics knowledge.

• At the end of the week the children take the same book home to show their skills to family.

• In Reception these reading sessions start at week 4 but children who aren’t decoding will have blending lessons. 

• Half termly assessments take place in Reception and Year 1 to help teachers identify gaps in children’s phonics knowledge and therefore in need of additional practise.  Daily assessments take place so that ‘keep -up’ interventions can be delivered using the ‘Keep-up’ intervention strategies in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

 

How can you help at home?

• Listen to your child read the ebook that is assigned to them at the end of the week.

• Sharing a book- a book your child has chosen for you to read to them with a ‘read this book to me’ book mark. This is a book for you to read to your child and enjoy together. Talk about the pictures in the book. Ask what happens at the start of the story or how they think the story ends. Explain any new words that your child might not have heard before to expand their vocabulary. Talk about the characters or discuss some of the facts if it is a non-fiction book. Help your child develop a love of books by enjoying this special time to read to your child.

For more information on how to support your child follow this link below. It shows you how to pronounce the sounds. There are some videos that show you how they are taught in school. Click on the link below.

 

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

 

 

 The Phonics and Early Reading Policy can be found here. 

   To watch a video about our whole-school approach to Reading, follow this link Our Whole School Approach to Reading