How do we teach phonics at St Gabriel’s?

Early reading at St Gabriel’s

At St Gabriel’s, we believe that for all our children to become fluent readers and writers, phonics must be taught through a systematic and structured phonics programme.

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and deliver daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that each letter of the alphabet represents 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 St Gabriel’s, 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 a daily phonics session alongside 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 twice a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
• The sessions follow the model set out in the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
• The children then take this book home at the end of the week to ensure success is shared with the family.
• Children in Years 1 and 2 (and beyond if appropriate) also take home an additional phonetically decodable book later in the week, which has not been read in school so that they can apply their decoding skills.
• In reception, reading sessions start in week 4. Children who are not yet blending take a wordless book home.
• Children in nursery begin small group reading sessions in the summer term. In a small group, they share a wordless book, talking about the pictures and turning the pages into the correct order. These sessions happen once a week with approximately 5 children in a group.

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 that are in danger of falling behind are 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 Y1 will complete this in Y2. Support continues to be put in place for these children using the Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up Programme. This programme continues into Key Stage 2 to ensure these children are supported to become fluent readers.
• Children who are new to St Gabriel’s are quickly assessed to identify gaps and signpost them to specific interventions.

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.
• Regular story time sessions throughout the week.
• Whole-class reading sessions 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.
• 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 books by authors, including some which they have read in class.
• Reading challenges within school.

 

Phonics Glossary 

 

digraph (special friends)	A digraph is a sound that is represented by two letters e.g. the sound 'a' in rain is represented by the digraph 'ai'.
split digraph (chatty friends)	A split digraph is a digraph that is separated by other letters e.g. the sound 'a' in the word take is represented by the split digraph a-e.
grapheme	A grapheme is a visual representation of a sound e.g. a letter or a group of letters. Some sounds are represented by a single letter whilst others are represented by more than one letter.
phoneme	A phoneme is a unit of sound e.g. the word 'cat' contains three phonemes; c - a - t.
segmenting	Segmenting is the opposite of blending. Children are taught to segment a word into its separate sounds in order to spell it.
blending	Blending is the skill of joining sounds together to read words. Children are taught to say the separate sounds in a word and to then blend them together to decode the word.

The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home. Find our full Reception and Year 1 teaching programme overview here to see what your child will learn and when.