How We Teach Phonics At Redgate

At Redgate Community Primary School, we teach phonics using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, following its structured progression to develop pupils’ phonemic knowledge, decoding, blending and early reading fluency. Phonics teaching begins in Reception and continues for as long as pupils need systematic teaching to secure their decoding skills.

In Nursery, children develop the foundations for phonics through activities that build listening, attention, sound discrimination and oral blending, preparing them for formal phonics teaching.

In Reception, children follow the Little Wandle sequence, progressing through Phase 2 and Phase 3 grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs), before learning to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants in Phase 4. They also learn to recognise and read tricky words.

In Year 1, children consolidate their earlier learning before progressing through Phase 5. They learn alternative pronunciations and spellings for known sounds, apply this knowledge when reading and spelling words, and develop greater accuracy and fluency.

Daily phonics lessons follow the Little Wandle teaching structure, including revisiting and reviewing previous learning, explicit teaching and practice of new learning, and opportunities to apply knowledge through reading and spelling. Previously taught GPCs and words are revisited regularly to strengthen recall and secure learning in long-term memory.

Children practise applying their phonics knowledge through reading books matched to their secure phonic knowledge. This enables them to practise decoding independently, build confidence and develop fluency.

Assessment: identifying pupils who need additional support

Assessment is an integral part of phonics teaching. Teachers use ongoing formative assessment during lessons, including pupils’ responses, their ability to recognise GPCs, blend unfamiliar words, read tricky words and apply their knowledge when reading and spelling.

Regular review activities and Little Wandle assessments, recorded using the Little Wandle assessment tracker, help teachers identify gaps in learning and monitor progress against the programme’s expected sequence. Assessment information is used to identify pupils who are falling behind, rather than allowing gaps in phonic knowledge to become embedded.

Where a pupil is not keeping up with the expected progression, teachers identify the specific knowledge or skill that needs further teaching and provide additional practice promptly. Assessment information also informs decisions about the appropriate level of support and whether further intervention or a different teaching pathway is required.

Keep-up sessions and additional phonics teaching

Pupils who are falling behind receive targeted Keep-up sessions that revisit the learning they have not yet secured. These sessions follow the principles and teaching approach of Little Wandle, providing additional explanation, modelling, practice and repetition to address identified gaps.

Keep-up provision is responsive to assessment. Teachers use information from lessons, review activities and the assessment tracker to identify priorities, check whether pupils have secured the targeted knowledge and determine the next steps. Progress is reviewed regularly so that support can be adapted, continued or adjusted as needed.

Phonics provision in Key Stage 2

Pupils who enter Key Stage 2 without secure decoding skills continue to receive systematic phonics teaching and targeted support. They are not assumed to have secured phonics simply because they have moved beyond Year 1 or completed a particular phase.

Teachers assess pupils’ phonic knowledge to identify gaps in GPC recognition, blending, word reading and the application of phonics when reading unfamiliar words. This information is used to determine the most appropriate teaching pathway.

Where appropriate, pupils in Years 2–6 who are not reading at the expected level receive support through the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up programme. This programme follows a structured phonics approach at a pace designed to help older pupils close gaps in their decoding and develop the accuracy and fluency needed to access the wider curriculum.

For pupils with complex special educational needs who require a highly adapted, small-step approach, the Little Wandle SEND programme may be more appropriate. The pathway is selected according to pupils’ individual learning needs and assessment, rather than age or year group alone.

Progress is monitored through ongoing assessment and review of reading development. Pupils continue to receive appropriate systematic phonics teaching until they have developed the decoding knowledge and fluency they need. As their reading becomes more secure, teaching increasingly supports fluent reading, vocabulary development and comprehension, enabling pupils to access the wider curriculum with growing independence.

To see our reading in action, search #redgateprimaryreading on our Redgate Instagram page.

Phonics and early reading policy

Information for Parents - Little Wandle Letters and Sounds

Here are some videos introducing the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds systematic synthetic phonics programme and information about how we teach your child to read at Redgate.

Phoneme Pronunciation - Support for Parents

The three videos below show you how to pronounce the sounds (phonemes) that we learn at school. 

Further Support can be found via this link:  https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

These grapheme information sheets explain how to pronounce the phonemes (sounds). They also explain how to write each grapheme with correct letter formation. 

Our school environment is really focused on reading and encouraging our children to develop a love of books and authors.