At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, phonics is taught using a validated scheme: Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. This scheme teaches our children to decode by identifying each sound within a word and blending them together to read fluently; and encode by segmenting each sound to write words accurately.
Phonics is a fun, multi-sensory approach and linked with a range of reading resources. This scheme is designed to be rich in talk and story where our pupils can experience the joy of books and language whilst rapidly acquiring the skills to become fluent independent readers and writers.
Phonics lessons begin in Nursery with Phase 1. At this stage, the focus is primarily on developing speaking and listening skills. where children develop the knowledge, skills and understanding to use and discriminate between auditory, environmental and instrumental sounds through 7 Aspects:
- Environmental Sounds
- Instrumental Sounds
- Body Percussion
- Rhythm and Rhyme
- Alliteration
- Voice Sounds
- Oral Blending and Segmenting
In our nursery, practitioners ensure children take part in Phase 1 activities throughout the day by providing a language-rich provision that recognises the interests of the children and the importance of play for their development.
In Reception children learn to listen attentively for sounds and rhythms and then they begin to learn the sounds of single letters. They learn to blend these sounds into words (for example h-a-t would make hat). Children are taught how to decode and segment sounds in words in order that they can read and write more efficiently. Reception children learn Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
We continue to teach phonics throughout Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2), working to revise GPCs in Phase 2,3 and 4, up to Phase 5. By this time child will have developed a secure grasp of complicated letter strings which enables them to decode two and three syllable words. Reading evolves from learning to read, to reading to learn.
Some words, which cannot be phonetically sounded out, are taught at each phase. These are ‘tricky words’ and are taught through sight recognition.
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.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabHowWeTeach