Teaching Phonics at East Meon CE Primary School

Phonics is taught daily in Year R and Key Stage 1 following the Little Wandle program. Children who are assessed as still needing further phonics support once they reach KS2 will also be placed into a group where phonics is being taught at their level but using age-appropriate texts.

Pupils in Year R will learn a new sound each day from the Phase 2 (individual letter) sounds in the Autumn term and then move on to learning digraphs (2 letters, 1 sound) after Christmas. In Year 1, pupils begin to 'grow the code' and explore alternative graphemes for sounds. Below you can find parent guidance on how to correctly pronounce these sounds. The children have a daily phonics lesson which is taught as a whole-class 20 minute lesson by the class teacher. In this lesson, the children are introduced to a new sound, a new way of writing a sound or a new tricky word. Throughout the lesson, they will read and write words with this sound in and build up to reading and writing sentences. There will be an opportunity to revisit and review previous learning at the start of each lesson.

Reading at East Meon CE Primary School

At East Meon we use a combined approach to reading. In Year R and KS1 pupils will begin to learn to read with books which match their level in phonics. 

Three times a week the children will have a reading practice session at school. These sessions are run in groups of up to 6 children with an adult and are grouped by ability. The children will focus on one book for the entire week which is matched to their ability. The sessions are run by teachers and teaching assistants from across the Year R to Year 2 team. The books are high quality with colour pictures and photos and there is a range of fiction and non-fiction texts to engage all readers. The sessions are organised as follows:

1. Session one gives children the opportunity to explore the new book and focuses on sounding out and blending unfamiliar words.
2. Session two is a prosody session. Prosody means reading with expression. In this session, the adult will model for the children how to add expression when reading aloud and then give the children opportunities to practice this for themselves. They will look at things like changing your voice when a character is speaking, articulating a question and pausing when there is a comma.
3. Session three is a comprehension session. The teacher will ask the children questions about the book to check for understanding and model for them how to find the answers if they are unsure.

Once they go beyond the LIttle Wandle scheme, pupils will move onto choosing an individual reading book from the school library. They will be guided by the class teacher to ensure they choose a book at an appropriate level for their reading ability. Children also participate in regular guided reading sessions, working in small groups with chapter books. This enables them to read with a teacher and discuss the story developing their comprehension skills.

Further Resources/Support

The Little Wandle team have created a section on their website which has additional resources and information for parents. There are some great videos which have ideas about how to support with phonics and reading at home which you may find useful. The link is:

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