Phonics and Early Reading Curriculum

"If you read, the world is yours!" Michael Rosen

At St. Martin’s C of E (VA) Primary School, Reading lies at the heart of our curriculum and is embedded throughout. From the moment children begin their St. Martin’s Journey, we endeavour to cultivate a passion and lifelong love of reading. Our aim is that children gain an extensive and rich vocabulary, essential reading skills and the motivation to read for study and pleasure.

We recognise that reading skills develop over time and we acknowledge that these begin with a good phonic knowledge. It is essential that our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of their background.

We encourage understanding, interpreting, engaging with and responding to texts by providing classroom book corners with a wide range of reading matter and opportunities for children to select materials independently from both fiction and non-fiction.

We place a strong emphasis on the significance of phonic knowledge for the teaching and learning of both reading and writing. Phonics teaching begins immediately in EYFS and continues throughout Key Stage 1 in daily sessions. We use the Little Wandle programme as our chosen and validated SSP (Systematic Synthetic Phonics) programme. The children are taught in whole class groups and are assessed regularly; those children who are identified as needing support will receive ‘keep up’ intervention sessions which are taught in smaller groups or individually if and when required. The Little Wandle programme provides a library of phonetically matched books which are used to support the teaching of phonics. Little Wandle Foundation for Phonics or the SEND programme is implemented where necessary.

By the end of the year 1, children are able to decode texts containing grapheme-phoneme correspondence from Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5. Key phonics skills which are taught in EYFS and Year 1, are consolidated in Year 2 using the review, bridge to spelling and Little Wandle spelling programmes. These skills continue to be strengthened through independent reading, reading for pleasure and whole-class reading sessions. Whole-class reading sessions focus on developing key skills: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and sequencing. Texts are mapped out using high-quality and diverse class novels to focus on, alongside giving the children access to reading extracts which give the children access to a wide range of reading materials to extend cultural capital, as well as key reading skills. On completion of the Little Wandle phonics programme, children then access their updated class libraries. These libraries are well stocked and diverse and offer a rich selection of age appropriate books.

Children in Key Stage 2 who require further phonics support, continue to access the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-Up programme. If at this stage, an SEND need is identified, children will access the Little Wandle SEND Support programme.

Phonics and Early Reading Subject Leads: Mrs A. Smith and Mrs K. Plumpton