Phonics and Early Reading
Hathersage St. Michael’s (A) Primary School’s intent is that every child will learn to read, regardless of background, needs or abilities. We want our children to be fluent, confident readers. They will be exposed to a wealth of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction to develop their vocabulary, language comprehension and develop a genuine love of reading and a keen interest in a range of texts.
Progression of Skills in Reading
We work to inspire our pupils to become passionate life-long readers who enjoy books and have a desire to read for pleasure. In order for the children to have the will to read, and be able to read to learn, they need to have secure skills in reading so that they can read with fluency and comprehension.
Reading is at the heart of our whole curriculum underpinning every subject area. We want every child to read widely, and to gain a rich knowledge across the curriculum. By offering a wide range of texts, we aim to broaden their minds and experiences to allow them to empathise with the world in which they live and support the development of their cultural capital.
Reading is such an important life skill that it is imperative we enable them to become independent readers who can easily process information, fully engage in all learning and be well prepared for their next stage of their education.
Daily Phonics
Validated systematic, synthetic phonics programme: 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised'
We teach early reading through the validated systematic, synthetic phonics programme 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised' which we have purchased, completed a rigorous CPD programme and implemented across the school.
Right from the start of Reception, children will have a daily phonics lesson which follows the progression for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds and this continues in Year One to ensure children become fluent readers. Pupils in Y2 onwards also receive regular Phonics lessons in smaller groups or on an individual basis depending on need.
We carefully monitor pupil's attainment and deliver daily 'keep up' sessions to ensure that no pupil is left behind.
For pupil's with SEND needs which means that 'Keep up' and 'Catch up' sessions have not been successfuly, we follow the Little Wandle SEND programme to ensure that they leave us as a fluent reader.
We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme of Progression.
Reading Practice
Reading practice sessions give children regular opportunities to apply the phonics they have learned to reading fully decodable books. The phonic progression in these books matches the progression of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. The reading practice sessions take place three times a week. Each reading practice session has a clear focus, the reading practice sessions focus on three key reading skills:
- decoding
- prosody – reading with meaning, stress and intonation
- comprehension – understanding the text.
Please follow the links to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised below for further support.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Home Reading
Each pupil in Reception and Year 1 take home a phonics book matched to their assessment data. It is expected that they read this book to their adult at home 3-4 times a week to develop automaticity.
Pupils who have completed the phonics programme in Year 2 and Year 3 take home a Little Wandle Fluency Book each week. Pupils regularly get assessed on which level of book to take home based on how fluenty they can read the book.
All pupils in school also take home a reading for pleasure book from our school library.
The School's Literacy Subject Leader is Mrs Gemma Lightfoot
The school's Literacy/Phonics Governors is Mr Mick Turton