Intent

Our intent at Arboretum Primary School is to provide children the chance to evolve into self-assured, expressive and well-rounded individuals capable of achieving personal success and support them to positively impact their community and the wider world. Children are taught reading through the programme ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme, validated by the Department for Education.

Early reading is always a key priority at Arboretum Primary School. Leaders monitor the provision of reading through learning walks in Literacy and Phonics session and the impact of this provision through the analysis of end of year cohort data (Phonics screening check and end of KS1 reading and individual pupil progress throughout the year (on going assessments).

Our belief is that for every child to develop into a fluent reader and writer, phonics must be taught through a well-organized and systematic phonics programme. Therefore, we have implemented the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to structure and deliver daily engaging phonics lessons. In our phonics teaching, we guide children in understanding that each letter of the alphabet represents a unique sound, which can be combined in various configurations to form words.

Learning to read research

Neurological research has identified an area of the brain dedicated to the process of reading which Dehaene calls ‘the letterbox’. This area is not operational from birth; rather, the neurological pathways are established as we learn the connections between letters and sounds. These pathways and activation of ‘the letterbox’ provide the basis for automatic word recognition and fluent reading.

Reading is complex: it is more than just word recognition. Comprehension plays a vital role in reading too. Comprehension starts with our understanding of oral language and develops rapidly on the back of word and sentence reading.

Both of these are strong reasons for children learning to build words from their letter-sound components at an early age, when their brains are at their most plastic. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is firmly based on these principles.

How we learn

Dehaene identifies four ‘pillars of learning’; these form the basis of understanding that unites education with neuroscience and leads to the most effective learning.

These four pillars are central to the resources and teaching approach of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised:

1. Focused attention

Preferably for short periods, regularly and frequently repeated

Short, daily lessons achieve precisely this focus on what needs to be learned, without distraction.

Each lesson gets to the true understanding of the purpose of the learning. Children know that each new sound learned means that they can read more words.

This is immediately demonstrated through reading words and sentences in the lesson, and applied in fully decodable reading books during reading practice sessions.

2. Active engagement

In Little Wandle lessons, active engagement is achieved through the continual expectation of children in chorus and individual oral response. This is immediately followed up by the activity of reading and writing words and sentences to apply new sounds learned as well as to practise previously learned ones.

3. Error feedback

In phonics and in word reading, errors are best countered by a teacher modelling the correct response, encouraging the child to repeat this, and so providing the correction without any negativity.

4. Practice and consolidation

Small items of learning are practised and repeated many times. This is an essential element of committing learning to memory.

Learning is also regularly practised and consolidated through application in reading practice sessions with decodable books, in writing sessions, and with further opportunities encouraged throughout the school day.

Implementation

Phonics is implemented by:

• A daily 30 minutes phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1
• Building from 10-minute lessons in EYFS, 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.
• Starting learning phonics in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
• Following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
  • 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.

How we group children to teach phonics in years 2-6

Children who are unsuccessful in the year 1 phonics screening check or join year 2 or KS2 classes having not received previous schooling or are new to English, attend daily phonics lessons or ‘catch up’ sessions designed to enable them to catch up with their peers as quickly as possible. They are grouped under the 1 of the following categories:

• Little Wandle Rapid-Catch Up, for pupils who need to recover a significant number of graphemes to become fully secure in phonic knowledge and fluency.
• Little Wandle SEND programme where appropriate. 
• English as an additional Language (EAL) phonics group, for pupils new to English who have not received full English phonics teaching.
• Gap-fill teaching, for pupils who have nearly passed the phonics screening but are not fully secure in phonic knowledge and fluency.

Ongoing assessment for Rapid Catch-up in Years 3 to 6

Children in Year 3 to 6 are assessed through:

• The Rapid Catch-up initial assessment to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan appropriate teaching
• The Rapid Catch-up summative assessments to assess progress and inform teaching
• The Rapid Catch-up fluency assessments when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books for age 7+.
• The fluency assessments measure children’s accuracy and reading speed in short
  one-minute assessments. They also assess when children are ready to exit the Rapid Catch-up programme, which is when they read the final fluency assessment at 90+ words per minute.

How parents can support at home

To promote family engagement in literacy, the decodable reading practise book is taken home. Furthermore, reading for pleasure books are also sent home for parents to read with their children. We employ the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised resources to connect with families and provide insights into phonics, the significance of shared reading, blending skills, and various aspects of our educational program, available both online and in workshop formats.

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, your engagement in their reading activities at home can play a crucial role in their learning journey. They will bring home two different types of books. A reading practise book that is suitable for their phonetic stage, enabling them to read with confidence, independence and fluency. The second is a sharing book. This is a book to be shared with the child as they will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy- they should be able to read 95% of the words-your child needs to develop fluency and confidence when reading. Listen to your child read the book and remember to give them lots of praise and celebrate their success! If your child struggles to read a word, help them read individual sounds and blend them together. After they have finished, talk about the book together- but avoid turning it into a test.

Sharing book

To foster a love of reading in your child that lasts a lifetime, it is essential for them to engage in reading for enjoyment. A shared book is one that your child has selected for both of you to experience together. It is crucial to understand that your child should not be expected to read this book independently, instead, read it to them or alongside them. Engage in discussions about the illustrations, savour the narrative, speculate on future events, employ varied voices for the characters, and delve into the information presented in non-fiction texts. The primary objective is to ensure that you both have an enjoyable experience.

Impact

Through implementation of our robust reading offer, we expect that pupils will develop a strong foundation of phonics including being able to read with age-appropriate fluency, use and understand a wide range of vocabulary and comprehend texts securely. This knowledge will prepare them for fluency lessons and develop their comprehension skills.

The impact of Reading success in our school is measured through the following:

• Pupils will be able to decode and recognise enough sight words at the end of their Key Stage 1 programme of study enabling them to read texts at their level confidently and fluently.
• Pupils of all abilities will be equipped to achieve success in all reading sessions.
• Pupils will enjoy reading across a range of genres.
• Once children have progressed through our chosen SSP programme, pupils will use a range of strategies for decoding words rather than relying solely on phonics.
• Pupils will have a good knowledge of a range of authors.
• Pupils will be able to transfer their phonic knowledge and reading ability to other subjects and use this in future education.
• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support their child when reading at home and contribute to their reading records.

Assessment

As a result, children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We know this through a series of assessments.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.

Assessment for learning is used:

• Daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
• Weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.

Summative assessment for Reception and Year 1 is used:

• every six weeks to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.

• by SLT and scrutinised through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker, to narrow attainment gaps between different groups of children and so that any additional support for teachers can be put into place.

A new to school assessment is used:

• with any child new to the school in Reception and Year 1 to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan and provide appropriate extra teaching.

Statutory assessment

• Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics screening check. Any child not passing the check
  re-sits it in Year 2.

Ongoing assessment for Rapid Catch-up in Years 2 to 6

Children in Year 2 to 6 are assessed through:

• The Rapid Catch-up initial assessment to quickly identify any gaps in their phonic knowledge and plan appropriate teaching
• The Rapid Catch-up summative assessments to assess progress and inform teaching
• The Rapid Catch-up fluency assessments when children are reading the Phase 5 set 3, 4 and 5 books for age 7+.