Phonics & Early Reading

At St Alphege CE Schools, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At St Alphege, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

How are phonics sessions delivered in Reception and Year One?

We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, children begin Little Wandle lessons from the second week of term, with additional daily oral blending games throughout the day.

Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Guided reading
- The children are assessed on the GPC's, tricky words and decodable words that they have been taught each half-term, and from this the children are allocated an appropriately-matched book to read.
- In Reception and Year 1, children have three guided reading sessions per week. The first session is Decoding, the second session is Prosody and the third session is Comprehension.
- Within each session, GPC's and tricky words are reviewed, and vocabulary is taught. Through skilled-questioning and modelling, the children are taught about punctuation, expression and fluency too.
What about Year Two?
In Year Two, children spend the first half-term revising Year One's programme of learning, before moving to a unit called Bridge to Spelling.
From January, children move to the Spelling units, where they are taught spelling and grammar rules.
Guided Reading moves from phonetically decoable books, to Fluency based chapter books, which are read over a two-week period.
For any children who didn't pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, or need extra support with their phonic development, the school offers Rapid Catch Up interventions to help close any gaps.

Home reading

The decodable reading practice book, or the Fluency book, is shared in Guided Reading sessions and this is taken home once the children have read it in school.
Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children.