Early Reading and Phonics

Phonics and Early Reading with Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised

At Coniston Primary School, we aim to provide effective Phonics and Early Reading provision from the very start of Reception to ensure that children foster a true passion for reading for pleasure and enter Key Stage 2 with the ability to access the wider curriculum with confidence. To show our commitment to this, we follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

We have become a Little Wandle Champion School! This means our school has met 16 Standards of Excellence in the teaching of early reading and phonics. We will now have other schools coming to see Little Wandle in action at our school and share the wonderful work our staff and children are doing. We are very proud to be part of this fantastic network of Champion Schools across the country.

We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily blending games, to full-length lessons as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.

Any child in Reception and Year 1 who needs additional practice has Daily Keep-up support and is taught by a fully trained adult.

Reading practice sessions take place three times a week and are taught in small groups by fully trained adults. The books that children read are matched to their progression through the programme allowing them to build confidence and fluency.

As part of the programme, children also bring home a sharing book every week. This is for their guardian to share and read to their child.

Further information can be found on the Little Wandle website including: Videos and resources to support phonics, information on how we teach phonics, books coming home and the Nursery Rhyme videos for Reception pupils.

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