Early Reading – Synthetic Phonics

When children join our school, in Nursery, they begin to learn about sounds around them and learn about stories and the pleasure of reading. In Reception, they begin to use synthetic phonics to learn to read words. The name Synthetic Phonics is used – not because it is made up language but because words are broken up into the smallest sounds. Although there are 26 letters in the English Alphabet – there are 44 phonemes – or sounds made by these letters. Our children are taught to decode these sounds so that they can start to read (decode) and spell (encode) at the same time. Our children, from Nursery to Year 2, have a dedicated time, each day, specifically dedicated to the teaching of phonics. This is in addition to listening to children read and reading to our children so that we immerse them in literature from an early age.

There are many recognised schemes for teaching phonics; the one that we use at Belvedere Infant School is: DFE accredited Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. All of our children follow this scheme and all adults in Early Years and Key Stage One have undertaken specific training to deliver this programme effectively.

Letters and Sounds is split into 6 phases and the programme finishes, for most children, at the end of the Autumn term, in Year 2. A Phonics screening check is carried out with all children nationally in the Summer Term of Year 1. Children who do not pass this screener in Year 1, have additional support to help them successfully pass in the summer Term of Year 2.

Please click here to access the parents page of the website: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Teaching Early Reading – Nursery – Year 2 Autumn Term

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.

Teaching reading: Reading practise sessions from Reception to Year 2 (Autumn term)

We teach our children to read through reading practise sessions. These:

• are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children.
• 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’.
• are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis.

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

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

In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. 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.

Daily ‘Keep-up’ lessons ensure every child learns to read

Any child who needs additional practise 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.

Home reading

• A decodable reading practise book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family.
• ‘Reading for pleasure’ books also go home for parents to share and read to children.
• An e book that matches the book children use in the ‘reading practise’ sessions is allocated to children’s e library to read at home

Teaching Reading from Year 2 Spring term

Once the phonics programme of study is completed, our children continue to develop their reading skills, and love of reading, through a range of strategies.

A teacher’s main objective is establishing the requisite skills, including modelling and questioning, introducing new vocabulary and encouraging children to infer or ‘read between the lines’. As language matures and increases, their ability to ‘create a picture’, and in some cases, fill the background knowledge required to become competent in comprehension, is key.

The more a child gains from the content of a book, the more they will develop their inference and deduction skills, transferring this knowledge to future books.

In addition, we actively encourage and monitor our children’s independent reading.