Phonics
Our aims
At Scotton Lingerfield Primary School, we want every child to develop the foundations they need to read and write confidently. We teach phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Children learn the sounds represented by letters and groups of letters, how to blend these sounds to read words and how to identify sounds in spoken words to spell them. Teaching follows a carefully sequenced progression, allowing children to build on what they already know and practise until their knowledge becomes secure.
How we teach phonics
Phonics is taught daily in Reception and Year 1. In Reception, we begin with short lessons and additional oral blending games, building towards full 30-minute sessions as children become ready. Regular review helps children remember and use their learning with increasing confidence.
Teachers model how to apply phonics in shared reading and writing, with further opportunities to practise across the curriculum. Consistent routines, language and resources help children understand what to do and concentrate on their learning.
Alongside phonics lessons, children take part in small-group reading practice three times a week with a trained adult. Books are carefully matched to their secure phonic knowledge so that they can apply the sounds they have learned successfully.
These sessions develop three connected skills: decoding words accurately, reading with expression and understanding what has been read. Rereading helps children become more fluent, allowing them to give greater attention to meaning. The matched reading-practice books are also made available for practice at home, helping families reinforce familiar learning and build children’s confidence.
Building knowledge across ages and stages
In Reception, children begin by learning the letter–sound correspondences in Phases 2 and 3. They practise blending sounds to read words and segmenting spoken words for spelling. As their knowledge develops, they read words containing adjacent consonants through Phase 4 and apply their learning to captions, sentences and carefully matched books.
In Year 1, children revisit earlier learning before progressing through Phase 5. They learn further ways to represent sounds in writing and recognise that the same letters can sometimes represent different sounds. Practice develops accuracy and fluency in both reading and spelling.
In Year 2 and beyond, children who need further phonics teaching continue to receive it. Support is matched to their knowledge and reading fluency, helping them secure the foundations needed to access increasingly demanding texts.
Helping every child succeed
Teachers check understanding during lessons and use weekly review and assessments every six weeks to identify gaps promptly. Children who need extra practice receive daily Keep-up support, using familiar routines and smaller steps with additional repetition.
Older children with gaps in their phonic knowledge receive targeted teaching, including Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up where appropriate. Reading practice with decodable books continues for as long as children need it.
Fluency assessments help teachers check children’s accuracy and reading speed, alongside their phonic knowledge, before deciding when they are ready to move beyond the programme’s decodable books.
Children joining the school have their phonic knowledge assessed so that teaching and reading books can be matched to their needs from the outset.
Our aim is for children to use their phonics knowledge confidently and increasingly automatically, giving them a secure foundation for reading, spelling and the wider curriculum.
