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Phonics

Our Phonics Approach at Barnfields

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is our phonics programme used in school.  

Right from the start of Reception, children have a daily phonics lesson which follows the progression for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. This continues in Year One and Year Two to ensure children become fluent readers. 

In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers. 

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress (see below). Four new phonemes and their corresponding graphemes are taught (GPCs) each week and they are then used in the final lesson of the week to review the week’s learning. Children will also learn tricky words during these sessions.

In the Autumn and Spring term, Reception learn phase 2 and phase 3 GPCs and then will spend the final term learning phase 4.

Year 1 begin the Autumn term with 3 weeks of revision of phases 2, 3 and 4 before learning phase 5, which will be completed by the end of the year.

Year 2 children begin the year by revisiting phase 5 and other previously taught phases to ensure all children are completely confident with applying these GPCs in both their reading and their writing.

Half termly assessments take place through Reception and Year 1 to help inform future teaching and to help identify children who have gaps in their phonic knowledge and need additional practice. Daily assessment of learning also takes place within the classroom so staff can quickly identify any children who are 'at risk' of falling behind and provide the appropriate daily ‘Keep Up’ intervention.

Phonics lessons involve three parts;

1 – Revisit and review

2 – Teach and practise

3 – Practise and apply

It is important to ensure that your child pronounces the sounds correctly so that they can effectively blend them together to read.  This will help you in supporting your child learn individual sounds and is very useful for when hearing your child read at home. 

To watch videos which show how the sounds should be pronounced, find out more about how we teach phonics and how you can support your child at home please see the following link:

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

To view the Little Wandle programme progression please see the attached programme overview below.  You will also find a useful attachment with a glossary of Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds terminology which you may hear your child using when talking about phonics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Yr1 Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check is a Statutory Requirement at the end of Year 1 to assess whether individual children can phonetically decode to the required standard.  It enables schools to identify children who need additional help to ensure they are given support to improve their reading skills.  

The check is a short, simple screening check which consists of a list of 40 words and pseudo words (non-words), which the child reads one-to-one with their class teacher.  

The Phonics Screening Check takes place every June.