Phonics 

At Gislingham, we recognise reading as a key life skill which underpins access to the rest of the curriculum.   We aim to develop confident, fluent and passionate readers and writers from an early stage and use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised  which is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP). This is a process that first teaches the letter sounds, building up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.


Through the teaching of phonics following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds, the children are taught the essential skills needed for reading. Phonics is taught daily to all children in Reception and Y1. Phonics teaching is systematic, engaging, lively and interactive. Each phonics lesson includes the following elements:

Staff systematically teach learners the relationship between sounds and the written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them.  In Reception, phonics is taught through daily whole class teaching input, small group activities and through continuous provision.  Staff ensure phonics is an integrated part of all learning in Reception, making links across the Early Years Curriculum as children explore the environment.  In Year 1, phonics is taught through a whole class teaching input, differentiated accordingly where individuals need challenge or support.  Regular assessment ensures that any gaps in pupils' phonic knowledge are identified and 'keep-up' interventions are put in place.


Extra support is provided to those in Year 2 who have not passed phonics screening in Year 1 and interventions are planned for those children who are working below expected levels using Little Wandle: Letter and Sounds Keep Up Programme. 

Reading Practice Sessions

Children are given regular opportunities to apply the phonics they have learned by reading fully decodable books. The phonic progression in these books matches the progression of Little Wandle. Reading practice sessions take place at least three times a week. Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory.

The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

decoding

prosody – reading with meaning, stress and intonation

comprehension – understanding the text.

Resources

In order to ensure a successful reading practice session, prior preparation is key. The following resources are prepared in advance of the sessions:

Content and Structure

The reading practice sessions have a clear structure:

• Pre-read: Revisit and review

• Reading practice: Practice and apply

• Review: Pacey review of any misconceptions and explanation of what is expected for home reading.

Pre-read: Revisit and review

Every reading practice session starts with a ‘revisit and review’. This enables the children to bring the GPCs they have learned to the forefront of their memory. This makes it easier for them to automatically recall the words and sets them up to succeed when they read the book. This part of the session is short and pacey. It provides the ideal opportunity to:

• revise the graphemes the children should already know

• practise fluently reading three or four words from the book, applying their phonic knowledge

• revise the tricky words that appear in the book

• Teach the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.

Reading practice: Practise and apply

‘Practise and apply’ is the main part of the reading sessions. The specific content varies according to the key reading skill being taught. When the focus for the reading practice session is decoding, each child reads the book independently, applying their phonic skills. The session which focuses on prosody, begins with an opportunity for the children to read the book independently to practise their fluency, followed by the teacher/teaching assistant working with the reading group on how to develop prosody and practise this skill. In the third session, the focus is on comprehension. When the children are reading independently, the teacher/teaching assistant moves round the group, ‘tapping in’ to listen to each child read for two or three pages, depending on the length of the text.

Review

At the end of the reading practice session, any common misconceptions are addressed and home reading practice is explained.

Please see these RESOURCES FOR PARENTS that will help you support your child with saying their sounds and also with 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 from home.