Intent (What we want to do)
At Wath C of E, we aim to provide a high-quality phonics and early reading curriculum which allows children to read with automaticity, understanding and enjoyment. We ensure that we follow a consistent curriculum throughout school, with phonic and early reading lessons happening daily from FS1 to Year 1 and beyond, when needed. The sessions are well structured with clear elements in each session. This includes the opportunity to review and revisit prior learning as we acknowledge that children need to retrieve past learning to enable them to embed the skills that they are taught.
Implementation (How we will do it)
In our school, we follow Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds Revised for children from F1 through to Year 1 and beyond for children who need this.
In Foundation 1, children complete daily ‘Foundation for Phonics’ lessons with a focus on developing children’s fundamental listening and communication skills through a range of rhymes and games. Children also take home a ‘sharing book’ which is a story book of this choice. This is to be read by an adult at home to promote a love of reading.
In Foundation 2 and Year 1 children complete structured daily lessons which have three main elements. These are:
Review and Revisit - Children recap previously taught sounds and re-read a range of words including decodable words and tricky words that they have been previously taught. This is a key element of the session and allows our children to retrieve prior learning before building onto new skills.
Teach and Practise –- Children are taught a new sound, they practise oral blending with the sound and hen read words containing the sound that they have been taught. They also learn a new tricky word and discuss the tricky parts of the word.
Practise and Apply – Children practise reading or writing sentences with the newly taught sound in them.
For reading, children get the opportunity to practise their skills in our Reading Practise sessions which occur three times per week. These sessions are split into three key focuses:
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Day one – decoding. Children focus on blending to read words, applying their phonic knowledge and recognising tricky words.
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Day two – prosody. Children re-read the text from the previous sessions and then practise using prosody and expression in their voices.
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Day three – comprehension. Children re-read the text for a third time and will read with a good level of fluency. They will be asked different questions to check their understanding.
After completing their three reads in school, children will then bring home their reading book. They should be able to read this book with growing fluency and it is their time to shine and read with confidence and enjoyment. The children will also bring home a ‘sharing book’ which is a story book of their choice that can be read by an adult at home to engage children in reading and support a love of reading culture.
Children with SEND or other challenges to their learning, may move through the phonics scheme will at a different pace. For these children they access small group ‘catch up’ sessions or to close as many gaps as possible and create more confidence around reading abilities. Some children may also follow the Little Wandle SEND programme where children
​This can be for any children who still need support with their reading skills.
Impact (What impact will it have?)
The impact in phonics is measured by half-termly assessments for all children, where gaps in learning are identified and plugged as appropriate through intervention, additional one to one reading practise and quality first teaching. As children progress, they will move through the reading scheme where the phonics will match the appropriate phase of phonics. This is closely monitored by class teachers to ensure children are reading at the correct level for them. Teachers also used …
Children who are completing interventions for gaps in learning are assessed every three weeks to consdider the next steps for all children.
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In Year One, all children sit the Phonics Screening Check to assess their application of GPCs in real and ‘alien’ words. Should they not pass, they will get the chance to retake this in Year Two.
Phonics and reading reviews take place regularly in order for leadership to observe lessons and impact across school. Following these observation, teachers and teaching assistants are given feedback in order to maximise learning further such as observing good practice around school or completing additional CPD in a supportive way in order to ensure that children are achieving their maximum potential.
Assessment for Learning (formative assessment) is recorded against statements from the reading national curriculum statements for each year group.