We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons.

In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound, that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing.

Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover. At Carr Infants, we also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of language skills for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

How we teach phonics and Early Reading (Early Years and KS1)

• In the Nursery, children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
• In Reception and Y1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
• Phonics starts in reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.
• By the end of Reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
• By the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
• Children in Year 2 recap any gaps in their phonics knowledge in the Autumn Term.
• Reception lessons start at 15 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing quickly to 30 minutes.
• Y1 lessons are 30 minutes long.

Reading practice sessions

• Children across Reception, Year 1, Year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a fully-matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
• These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen three times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
• The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
• The children then take the same book home the following week to ensure success is shared with the family.
• In Reception, these sessions start in week 4. Children who are not yet blending take a wordless book home.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

• In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
• Children identified in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – these sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
• In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half-term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
• Children in Year 1 complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
• Children who do not meet standard in the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, will complete this in Y2. Support continues to be put in place for these children.

Reading for pleasure – Early Years and KS1

Alongside daily teaching of phonics, reading for pleasure is an important part of our Early Reading offer. We ensure children develop a love of reading and are exposed to a range of interesting and relevant authors. We promote a love of reading in the following ways:

• Teaching of poetry, which includes performing and learning a range of poems by heart.
• Daily storytime.
• Whole class reading sessions which include a range of books that are mapped out to ensure children have a rich reading diet, vocabulary is explicitly taught and children can learn key phrases in the book.
• Book areas within the classroom which have a careful selection of books, including books by the focus author.
• Use of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for a Love of reading’ stories in Nursery.
• Alongside children’s decodable reading book, children also take home a reading for pleasure book each week.  In each year group, children will take home a range of book by authors, including some which they have read in class.

If you are a parent and would like more information about how to support your child with phonics at home, please follow this link to find the Reception and Year 1 overview as well as videos of the sound pronunciations, letter formation sheets and other helpful resources.

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

As children graduate the Little Wandle programme, we begin to use the reciprocal reading pedagogy, which the children are introduced to in KS1, to support both whole-class reading and guided reading. This approach consists of four components which develop the skills of: predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarising.

Whole Class Reading, lessons are discussion-based with written responses offered multiple times a week in Reading Journals. These lessons take place daily, with each child sharing a copy of the whole class reading texts. 

In our Read to Learn approach for Guided Reading, children read in a group and then take home a small group text matched to their reading band, which is assessed based on children’s accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. These books are banded using a combination of Lexile Scoring and ATOS scores. Across the school, we ensure that an adult reads with each child at least once a week in small group. Children are also given home learning focused around our reciprocal reading components which is completed in their reading home-learning books.

In addition to the Guided Reading Book, children are encouraged to choose a text that interests and excites them which can be read independently or with help from an adult from our class or school libraries. All children have timetabled access to the school library each week.

 

For writing in our school, we intend to enable all children to develop a repertoire of knowledge and skills in order to write both creatively and purposefully through a variety of genres and text types.

EYFS End Goals

In order to prepare children for the KS1 curriculum, we have clear EYFS end goals.

• to form letters correctly, however this may not yet be on a line.
• to spell accurately using phase 3 phonics knowledge.
• to be able to write a simple sentence.

Transcription End Goals

By the end of their time here at Carr Infants, we want children to have the skills to be able to take an idea and put it into written form.  To achieve this, we equip children with the necessary transcription skills of:

• Handwriting, and
• Phonics and Spelling

Handwriting

We believe that children must be able to write with ease, speed and legibility. We aim for handwriting to become a skill that requires little effort and reduces the cognitive load required for composition. Our aims in teaching handwriting are:

• For children to develop a well formed, legible and fluent handwriting style which they use confidently.
• For children to develop their handwriting skills progressively through a consistent approach using ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds’ alongside the progressive handwriting we have developed in school.
• To develop an effective and comfortable pencil grip.
• To form letters correctly with the correct size and orientation.
• To have high expectations for presentation and for children to know the importance of this, in order to communicate meaning effectively across the curriculum.

Phonics and Spelling

We aim to enable children to be competent in using the correct letters (graphemes) to represent the sounds in a word (phonics) through phonics and sufficient spelling knowledge to become accurate spellers. To achieve this overarching goal, each year group has its own end goals:

• Reception: achieve accurate spelling using phase 3 phonics
• Year 1: achieve accurate spelling using phase 5 phonics
• Year 2: achieve accurate spelling through common spelling patterns and rules

Composition End Goals

By the end of their time here at Carr Infants, we want children to be capable of writing both creatively for enjoyment and purposefully to meet specific objectives. We aim for children to have the knowledge and skills to write through a range of genres and text types:

• Narrative – to tell a story with a problem and a resolution
• Recount – to recount an event that has happened
• Information – to inform the reader about a thing, idea or concept
• Procedure – to instruct what to do
• Persuasion – to convince someone about something

What does our writing curriculum look like?

Early Years

In the Early Years we follow the Little Wandle Phonics programme to develop writing. In small groups, supported by teachers and support staff, children practise writing at least 3 times per week, in addition to the writing element of the Little Wandle phonics lessons each day. There is a clear progression continuum:

1. Tracing the letter formation
2. Forming the letter without tracing
3. Writing a short word containing that day’s grapheme and previously taught graphemes with sound buttons to support segmenting. Sound buttons are removed as children become secure in segmenting independently.
4. Writing a dictated caption containing any taught graphemes and tricky words
5. Writing a short dictated sentence containing any taught graphemes and tricky words.
6. Write a short sentence generated as a group supported by the teacher using a semantic building board - who?, did what?, where?
7. Writing a short sentence that they have generated themselves

Key Stage One

In Key Stage One we take a genre-led pedagogy approach to writing. We split genres into 3 categories: narrative, expository and poetry. Across all genres, there is a clear progression continuum:

1. Single words
2. Caption
3. Caption with where
4. Simple sentence
5. Simple sentence with when
6. Simple sentence with where and when
7. Couplets
8. Paragraphs

We use model texts to support pupil’s understanding of the genre. Example model texts, pitched to the children, are used as inspiration and teacher models are used to demonstrate the process.

Lessons may focus on immersion, providing inspiration to the children, or idea building where they begin to plan and write their own texts.

Idea building lessons follow a 3 step approach; plan, model, write. Each lesson has 3 learning chunks where this approach is followed each time.

Plan

Planning is done together with children where talk is encouraged, and collaborative learning structures are used to effectively share ideas in a way that is accessible to all learners. Double pages are used in pupils' workbooks to ensure planning can be utilised effectively when moving onto the writing stage.

A ‘thinking side’ in books is used for planning where ideas are gathered and written down. Widgit symbols are used on children’s thinking sides to support sentence development. Children use the Widgit symbols to orally rehearse their sentences. Blank symbols may be used as children progress to encourage children to think of their own additions. As children progress through Key Stage 1, Widgits are removed as children begin to plan their writing more independently through notes.

Model

Teachers model the writing process for pupils using their own ‘thinking side’ developed together as a class. They talk through step by step what is going through their heads as they begin to write and show the building of ideas to create a written text.

Write

Pupils have a ‘writing side’ next to their ‘thinking side’, allowing and encouraging them to easily refer to their plan in order to build their writing and create their own version of the text. Pupils write with double line spacing to allow them to edit and improve their writing. Feedback from teachers is immediate, using live marking to allow pupils to respond to feedback within the lesson..

How we support all learners

We ensure that all children have the same ambitious end goals. However, we ‘go as quick as possible, yet as slow as necessary’.

Lessons are adapted to meet the needs of all learners. This is an adaptation of the tasks to ensure that the same ambitious learning objectives are secured. All children access the same stimulus (e.g - The Hungry Caterpillar) but their learning is pitched towards their next steps along our schools learning continuum. Kagan Structures are used by teachers to differentiate support and the level of modelling to meet children’s needs.

Assessment

• Assessment for learning – Using written work to demonstrate what next steps are needed.
• Assessment of learning – End of unit summative assessments are collated using our assessment system. These are shared with subject leaders to maintain understanding of progress in their subject.

Culture - how do we get the best from pupils

In Writing we establish an ambitious culture for pupils as writers by:

1. Curriculum is delivered equally for all pupils
2. Curriculum is not narrowed

Timetables - how much/when

Writing is taught throughout all terms of the year. This is 5 times a week in Key Stage 1 and at least 3 times a week in Reception. This is sufficient time to enable children to reach the ambitious end goals.