Implementation  Foundations for phonics in Nursery

By working with our feeder nursery we ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.

Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

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

•       Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.

•       We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

o 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. o Children in Year 1 review Phases 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy. 

Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read

•       Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.

•       In autumn term we timetable daily phonics lessons for all child in Year 2. Those who are not fully fluent at reading or have not passed the Phonics screening urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. To close this gap we use the Rapid Catch-up assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Rapid Catch-up resources – at pace.  

•       These short, sharp lessons last 15-20 minutes and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in reading.

Teaching reading: Reading practice sessions three times a week

•       We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These: o are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children

o   use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book matching grids on pages 11–20 of ‘Application of phonics to reading’. o are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis.

•       Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

o   decoding o prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression o comprehension: teaching children to understand the text. 

In Reception these sessions start in autumn 2. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books. 

•       In Years 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books, before moving to Destination Reader. 

Home reading

• The decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family. 

o Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children. We share the research behind the importance and impact of sharing quality children’s books with parents through workshops, leaflets and the Everybody read! resources. o We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision, both online and through workshops.

Ensuring consistency and pace of progress

•       Every teacher in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectations of progress. We all use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load.

•       Weekly content grids map each element of new learning to each day, week and term for the duration of the programme. 

•       Lesson templates, Prompt cards and ‘How to’ videos ensure teachers all have a consistent approach and structure for each lesson.

•       The Reading Leaders and SLT use the Audit and Prompt cards to regularly monitor and observe teaching; they use the summative data to identify children who need additional support and gaps in learning. 

Ensuring reading for pleasure 

‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.’ (OECD 2002)

‘The will influences the skill and vice versa.’ (OECD 2010)

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy.

•       We read to children every day. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at St Michael’s Church school and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.

•       Every classroom or year group has an inviting book corner that encourages a love for reading. We curate these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books. 

•       In Reception, children have access to the reading corner every day in their free flow time and the books are continually refreshed. 

Children from Reception onwards have a home reading record. The parent/carer records comments to share with the adults in school and the adults will write in this on a regular basis to ensure communication between home and school.

•       As the children progress through the school, they are encouraged to write and share their own thoughts and comments.

•       The school library is made available for classes to use at protected times. Children across the school have regular opportunities to engage with a wide range of Reading for Pleasure events (book fairs, author visits and workshops, national events etc)..