Phonics & Reading
Phonics & Early Reading
At Ibstone CE Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Ibstone, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.
Comprehension
We value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.
Because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, our Reading Leader, Mrs Long, drives the early reading programme in our school. She has has many years of experience teaching phonics and reading, and she monitors and supports our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
Please access the Little Wandle website to find more information. The ‘For Parents’ section provides videos of how to pronounce the Phase 2 and Phase 3 sounds and how we teach the reading of words.
Phonics Screening Check
The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonics knowledge. It was introduced for all Year 1 pupils in the country and is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in the phonics skills needed to accurately decode words.
The phonics assessment comprises of a list of 40 words that children read one-to-one with a teacher. The list is a combination of 20 real words and 20 pseudo words (nonsense or non-words) which rely purely on using phonics to decode.
The assessment takes place every year in June. Those children who do not achieve the expected level will be required to retake the test the following year.
Please access the links below to find an example phonics check and parent information letter with further details.
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