Phonics

At Brookfield Primary Academy School, we aim to enable all our children to become fluent readers and writers. We follow ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revisited which is a structured, systematic phonics programme.

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that graphemes (letters) represent a phoneme (sound) and that these can be used in a variety of combinations to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different phonemes and their corresponding grapheme that they might see when they are reading or writing. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover. At Brookfield we also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of oracy for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

How we teach phonics and Early Reading (Early Years and KS1)

• In our Nursery, children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.

• In Reception and Year 1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.

• Phonics starts in Reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.

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

• By the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5. Moving forward from this, all children up to Y6, use the ‘Grow the Code’ grapheme mat reinforcing their knowledge and applying this in their spellings.

• Children in Year 2 recap any gaps in their phonics knowledge in the Autumn term.

• Reception lessons start at 15 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing quickly to 30 minutes.

• Year 1 lessons are 30 minutes long.

Reading practice sessions

• Children across Reception, Year 1, Year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a fully matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.

• These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen three times a week. They follow three stages; day 1 decoding, day 2 prosody (using your story teller’s voice) and day 3 comprehension.

• The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

• The children then take the same book home to ensure success is shared with the family.

• Children who are not yet blending take a wordless book home.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

• In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 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).

• Children identified in reception, year 1 and year 2 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – these sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

• In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments.

• Children in Year 1 complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.

• Children who do not meet the expected standard in the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, will complete this in Year 2. Support continues to be put in place for these children.

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.

Resources for Parents

 Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised