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Systematic Synthetic Phonics & Reading

Phonics

At Ormesby Village Infant School, we teach Phonics following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. This complete teaching programme meets all the expectations of the National Curriculum, the Ofsted Deep Dive into reading and prepares all our children to go beyond the expectations of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

The resources attached to this page will help parents support their child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There is also a link below to Little Wandle's website, where parents can find helpful videos demonstrating how Phonics is taught. These will all build parental confidence to support children with their reading at home and mirror how they are taught at school. Attached below is the full Reception and Year 1 teaching programme overview to see the children will learn and when. Also below are some pronunciation guides and other related support material.

Little Wandle for Parents

The majority of classes are taught together and work is well-matched for different abilities and needs. Those children who find learning more challenging are supported in smaller groups/1:1 with Catch Up and Keep Up interventions to revisit any prior learning they have not yet grasped. Children who continue to require phonetic support at the end of Year 3 will still be able to access trained staff, who will be using the Little Wandle 7+ programme as the reading experts at our Junior school. 

Our collection of reading books match the programme's agreed Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence (GPC) progression and trained staff deliver Phonics in a consistent and enthusiastic manner across each week utilising uniform actions, chants and rhymes.  We will continue to ensure our pupils love doing Phonics and the impact of its sessions is significant.

Spelling Programme

When pupils reach Year 2, they should have achieved their Phonics goals and reached the end of the Little Wandle programme successfully. Pupils will then follow the Nelson spelling programme, where they will have spelling tests, videos on spelling patterns, phonic style sessions with spelling flashcards and focused spelling tasks to challenge and embed the learning.  Some children may not have reached their Phonics goals, so will continue to receive phonic instruction. 

Supporting Children with Reading

Although children will be taught to read at school, parents can have a huge impact on their child's reading journey by continuing their practice at home. There are three types of reading book that your child will bring home:

A reading performance book.

This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently. All children will practise reading their performance book in school each day between Monday and Friday. After these first three reads have been completed the book can go home for the child to read to an adult independently and fluently. This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

A reading practice book

This may be a different reading book at the child's same phonic stage may be sent home for continued practise and enjoyment.

Year 2 children, who have completed their Phonics journey successfully will be classed as an independent reader and encouraged to change their chosen reading books daily, if the books have been read in that time. Larger and lengthier reading material will require longer to complete. 

A sharing book. 

Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together, as the child may have chosen this themselves from personal interest. Children will bring a sharing book home on Mondays from the book corners in class or the school library. 

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together. We have a separate page about our reading for pleasure culture if you would like more information. 

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun.