Phonics at St Mark’s

At St Mark’s, we use Little Wandle, a Department for Education-validated systematic synthetic phonics programme. Our aim is for every child to become a confident, fluent and enthusiastic reader. Little Wandle provides a clear and carefully sequenced approach that enables children to build their knowledge of sounds and letters step by step.

What is phonics?

Phonics teaches children the relationship between the sounds we hear in spoken language and the letters and groups of letters (graphemes) that represent those sounds in writing.

Children learn to recognise the sounds represented by letters, blend sounds together to read words, and segment words into sounds to support spelling. For example, children learn that the letters sh represent the sound /sh/ and can then use this knowledge to read words such as shop, fish and shell.

Phonics is taught systematically, so that children learn new sounds and the ways they are represented in a carefully planned sequence. Previously taught sounds are continually revisited and practised so that knowledge becomes secure and can be recalled quickly.

How do we teach phonics?

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme. This means that children are explicitly taught the alphabetic code and how to use it to read and spell words.

In Reception and Year 1, children have daily phonics lessons. Lessons are carefully structured and include:

• revisiting previously taught sounds and words;
• learning new sounds and the graphemes that represent them;
• practising blending sounds to read words;
• practising segmenting words for spelling;
• reading words and sentences containing the sounds children have learned;
• learning and practising common tricky words that cannot always be decoded using the phonics knowledge taught so far; and
• regular opportunities to review and consolidate previous learning.

The programme places a strong emphasis on repetition, practice and immediate application. Children do not simply learn a sound and move on; they use their developing knowledge to read and spell words, helping this learning become embedded in their long-term memory.

Reading books matched to phonics learning

An important part of Little Wandle is the use of fully decodable books. These books are carefully matched to the phonics knowledge children have been taught.

This means that children can use the sounds they know to read the words in their book, rather than having to guess from pictures or from the first letter of a word. As children practise reading books that match their current phonics knowledge, they develop increasing accuracy, fluency and confidence.

At St Mark’s, we want children to experience the success of being able to read a book independently using the knowledge they have learned in their phonics lessons.

Supporting every child to learn to read

We recognise that children learn at different rates. Little Wandle provides regular assessment and opportunities for additional practice so that children who need further support can receive it promptly.

Where children are not yet keeping up with the expected progression, we provide 'Keep-up' support to revisit and practise the knowledge they need. Little Wandle also provides a Rapid Catch-up programme for older pupils who require additional phonics support.

Our approach is inclusive and designed to support all children to become readers. Where children require more specialised adaptations, Little Wandle also provides a dedicated SEND programme based on a graduated approach.

Phonics is the beginning of the reading journey

Phonics provides children with the essential knowledge they need to decode words, but learning to read involves much more than phonics alone.

Alongside phonics, we develop children's vocabulary, language comprehension, reading fluency and understanding. Children hear and enjoy a wide range of high-quality stories, poems and non-fiction, and we actively promote a love of reading and reading for pleasure.

Our ultimate aim is for children to move beyond learning how to decode words to becoming fluent, confident readers who understand, enjoy and value what they read.