Phonics Curriculum Statement
Here at Fairfield Primary School our aim is to ensure that all children reach their full potential and become confident, creative and fluent readers and writers. Underpinning children’s success as early readers and writers is their knowledge and understanding of letters and sounds within the English Language - which is taught to them through Phonics.
Little Wandle Champion School
We are proud to be a Little Wandle Champion School! This means our school has met 16 Standards of Excellence in the teaching of early reading and phonics. We have other schools coming to see Little Wandle in action at our school and share the wonderful work our staff and children are doing. We are very proud to be part of this fantastic network of Champion Schools across the country- placing us in the top 0.4% of all schools.
Intent
At Fairfield Primary School, 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 Nursery/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 Fairfield Primary School, 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.
Implementation
Foundations for Phonics in Nursery
We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and Language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:
- Sharing high-quality stories and poems
- Learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
- Activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
- Attention to high-quality language.
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 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.
Below outlines the teaching sequence for Little Wandle. We follow the sequence in our teaching, but ensure that the children are learning sounds at an appropriate level for their developmental stage:
- 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.
Keep-up Lessons Ensure Every Child Learns to Read
We provide additional phonics teaching for children who need to secure their phonics knowledge and develop confidence in reading. In Reception and Year 1, children who need additional support receive Daily Keep-up sessions, either individually or in small groups. These sessions revisit the sounds and skills children need to secure, helping them to keep up with the pace of the main phonics programme.
In Year 2 and beyond, children who need further phonics support receive Rapid Catch-up. This follows the same progression and teaching approach as the main Little Wandle phonics programme, but is delivered at a faster pace. Children are supported to address gaps in their phonics knowledge and develop the skills they need to become confident, independent readers.
Ensuring Consistency and Pace of Progress
All staff teaching Phonics have been trained to teach the Little Wandle Scheme, 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 Leader regularly monitors and coaches teachers.
Please click on the following link for further information and guidance: Little Wandle Letters and Sounds | Resources for Parents.
Reading Curriculum Statement
At Fairfield Primary School, we understand that learning to read is a key life skill and is the foundation for children’s future educational success. We aim to foster a lifelong love of reading by promoting reading for pleasure and creating a culture where children choose to read for their own enjoyment. Through carefully selected texts and our very own Reading Spine, we give children the opportunity to discuss new ideas and develop empathy with characters they meet along the way. As a staff, we are passionate about teaching reading in an exciting and progressive way; giving children the tools and skills required to be successful, independent readers. We understand that teaching reading is our moral duty.
Jane Considine, 2017
Intent
At Fairfield Primary School, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose and, because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, we have a Reading Leader who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled at teaching phonics and reading, and they support and coach our designated Reading Team and team of highly trained staff, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
We aim to ensure that all pupils:
- Can read developmentally appropriate texts confidently and fluently
- Choose to read for their own enjoyment and become passionate lifelong readers
- Acquire strong understanding and comprehension skills through challenging discussions
- Progress to being able to analyse the authors choice of writing conventions and how these impact the reader
- Have the opportunity to read a broad variety of quality texts from different genres and authors.
- Have opportunities to read across the curriculum and use texts to discover and retrieve information.
- Acquire a rich and varied vocabulary
- Can demonstrate strong speaking and listening skills and are confident in participating in debates and drama activities
- Use the literature that they have explored to inspire their own writing.
Implementation
Reading Practice in Reception and KS1
From Week 4 in Reception, children begin regular reading practice sessions as part of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. These sessions continue throughout Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
We follow the three reads model, where children read the same book three times, with each session having a different focus:
Read 1 – Decoding
Children practise applying their phonics knowledge to read the words in the book accurately.
Read 2 – Prosody
Children develop their ability to read aloud fluently and expressively using appropriate meaning, stress and intonation.
Read 3 – Comprehension
Children talk about the book, explore its meaning and develop their understanding of what they have read.
Each reading practice session lasts 20 minutes. Before reading the book, children take part in a pre-read activity. This gives them the opportunity to practise the GPCs, words and tricky words they will encounter in the book, as well as develop their understanding of key vocabulary.
Teachers use the same familiar strategies as those used in the daily phonics lessons. This helps children to feel confident and supports them in becoming fluent, accurate and enthusiastic readers.
Reading Fluency
From Year 2 onwards, children who have completed the Little Wandle phonics programme move on to develop their reading fluency through the Little Wandle Fluency programme. The programme develops all aspects of reading through a wide range of vibrant, diverse and engaging chapter books.
Children read each book repeatedly, developing their accuracy, automaticity, pace, expression and understanding. Through repeated reading, children become more confident and fluent, allowing them to focus increasingly on the meaning of what they are reading.
Fluency sessions provide opportunities for children to develop prosody, learning to read aloud with appropriate phrasing, rhythm, stress and intonation. Children also explore new vocabulary, discuss the text and develop their comprehension through rich book talk and carefully planned questions.
Reading Comprehension
Each week, children from Year 2 onwards are taught a dedicated reading comprehension lesson. Each unit incorporates a range of fluency and vocabulary activities designed to develop children's reading comprehension.
Through cross-curricular links, children activate their prior knowledge to support their understanding of the text. They explore Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary and learn how to retrieve and interpret information using a range of reading strategies, including teacher read, echo read and timed read.
Children benefit from scaffolded learning, progressing from a modelled question, to a shared question and finally to an independent question. At the end of each unit, children apply their learning to an unseen text, allowing them to demonstrate their understanding and apply the skills they have developed.
This approach supports children in becoming confident, independent and critical readers who can apply their reading skills across a range of texts and contexts.
Reading for Pleasure
We take inspiration from leading names in the field of literature, who state:
Katherine Patterson
At Fairfield Primary School, we believe that reading is not only essential for learning but also a source of joy, imagination and discovery. We are committed to developing a strong culture of Reading for Pleasure where every child can discover books they enjoy and develop a lifelong love of reading.
Throughout the school, children have regular opportunities to choose, explore and share books. Our teachers promote a wide range of high-quality, diverse and engaging texts, introducing children to authors, illustrators, genres and experiences that they may not otherwise encounter
Book Club
Every year group has dedicated Book Club time, providing children with an opportunity to browse, explore and talk about books in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Children can share recommendations, discuss their favourite books, discover new authors and listen to their teachers and peers talking enthusiastically about reading.
Book Club is designed to be a special part of the week that children look forward to, helping to build a positive reading culture across the school. It gives children the time and space to develop their own reading preferences, make independent choices and experience the pleasure of sharing books with others.
Alongside Book Club, children enjoy regular opportunities for storytime, book talk, reading aloud, assemblies and using our Reading Realm and school and class libraries.
Reading Areas
Reading corners are an important aspect of Fairfield Primary’s ‘Reading for Pleasure’ provision. Every classroom has a reading area- a place where children can enjoy reading books together and discover new genres. As the Reading Framework 2021 states ‘Well chosen books should capture children’s imagination to such an extent that they become unaware of whether they are sitting on a beanbag, an ordinary classroom chair or a bench in the book corner’. All classroom reading corners are regularly refreshed with new and exciting texts. Pupil voice is integral to our reading provision, and children are asked for recommendations before the school purchases new texts. At Fairfield Primary, we understand that the most important aspect of a reading corner- is the quality of texts which children have access to. Our reading corners, however, particularly in EYFS and KS1- are designed to be inviting, magical spaces where children can foster a love of reading.
Reading at Home
We encourage children to read regularly at home and to share books with their families. Reading together, listening to your child read, talking about stories and sharing your own enjoyment of reading can all help to develop a lifelong love of books.
In KS1, children will bring home their decodable book, which they have previously read in school. This allows children to practise their reading and develop confidence and fluency with a familiar text.
In KS2, children will bring home their Fluency Chapter Book on a two-week cycle. They will have read the book in school before taking it home, giving them the opportunity to continue reading and enjoying the text with their family.
All children will also bring home a Reading for Pleasure book. Children choose a book from their class or school library to enjoy at home. This book may be read independently, shared with an adult or enjoyed together as a family.
We want children to experience reading both as an essential skill and as something to enjoy, share and look forward to.
Recommended Reads
Here at Fairfield Primary School, we aspire to be an outstanding reading School. Therefore, our staff have selected twenty core texts for each year group. The books for Key Stage 2 are displayed below in separate tables for each year group and we hope your child will become very familiar with these titles during their time in Key Stage 2. These texts are available to read in school. If you wish to support your child with their breadth of reading then please feel free to read these books at home to and with your child. We hope that these book lists might play a part in birthday, Christmas or general “book treat” purchases from family and friends.
How can I help my child become a better reader?
As with anything, performance improves with practice. Encourage your child to read at home. Create a culture of reading in your household by reading with your child, starting a home library, visiting your local library or bookshop on a regular basis, letting your child see you reading and discussing books that each of you have read. When reading with your child, stop and ask questions to be sure your child is comprehending what is read. Reading with your child, no matter what the child’s age, is an important part of developing a good reader, building a lifelong love of reading and learning and creating a loving relationship between you and your child. Make learning a family affair!
At Fairfield Primary School, we have written our very own 'Parent Guides to Reading', which we hope you will find useful to support your child with their reading at each stage of the primary phase.
Parent/Guardian Guides to Reading
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Mrs N Pammenton
Literacy Lead
Mrs L Crellin
Reading Lead
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Mrs J Benson
Writing, SPaG & Handwriting Lead
Mrs K Newby
Oracy Lead
Mrs O Leonard
Reading Intervention Facilitator
