Tudor Church of England Primary School

Tudor children begin their phonics learning right from the start in Early Years. We follow the teaching sequence of Little Wandle. Our staff have very recently had some refresher training in the delivery of high quality phonics teaching, and our assistants work alongside the teachers to ensure every child makes the best progress that they can make. We teach our phonics sessions as a whole class, but also provide Keep Up sessions to those who need them. For those who need additional challenge we plan extra opportunities for reading and writing development within our curriculum.

Above is the teaching seqence that we use in EYFS and KS1.  Our reading books are tailored to match this sequence of teaching so that our children quickly become  confident and fluent readers. There is a downloadable copy below.

Above is a clip of the pronounciation and formation guide that we use in school. We have also shared these with families. We expect everyone in school to pronounce the phonemes as clearly as they are able, and, when writing to form the letters correctly.

You can see a link to a parent section of the Little Wandle Website here

https://www.littlewandleletters.andsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Little Wandle is the scheme that we use in Early Years, through into KS1. From September 2022 it will also be used, where needed, to deliver  phonics sessions to those who our assessments indicate they need them in KS2. Little Wandle has a carefully planned sequence of teaching letters and sounds to enable children to read and write quickly. The children use their GPC (Phoneme, grapheme correspondance) charts to help themselves with their writing, and we use the full Little Wandle  sequence of reading books to match the children's phonics learning as they progress through the year. This is to ensure complete fidelity to the scheme that we have selected. Every child in EYFS and KS1 takes part in a three times weekly reading session in addition to their daily phonics sessions. The reading sessions cover three elements of reading - Decoding, Prosidy, and Comprehension. These sessions are in groups of a maximum of 6 children, with one trained adult to enable accelerated progress and bespoke interaction for every child. 

We are absolutely determined for every child to be the very best reader they can be, but also to develop a love of reading. It is this aspiration to nurture a love of reading that drives us to meet each child's unique teaching requirements.

The children in Year One take a phonics screening check, in line with statutory guidance from the DFE. The children are gently prepared for this, and most do not even realise that they have completed it. Careful assessment in the terms leading up to the check and targetted teaching enable all children to do their very best.

https://youtu.be/VtoJZMVgy1I

We offer phonics workshops in EYFS and KS1 for parents so that we can explain how we teach phonics, and how this supports young children with their reading and writing skills. We also send home the same phonics resources  - phonics charts- that the children use at school, so that they can continue their learning at home too.

We recognise the key role that parents play in supporting their child with their reading and writing. We try hard to always be able to offer help and guidance to parents who would like to know more. We use Tapestry to communicate with parents as well as being available to have a chat.

We held a phonics workshop for mums and dads so that they could come and see how we teach phonics, and make it fun and active too! Here on the left are a few photos of this workshop. 

Here are a few videos created by Little Wandle that explain to parents the processes involved in learning to read.

https://youtu.be/-ZtjFIvA_fs

https://youtu.be/qDu3JAjf-U0

https://youtu.be/DvOuc7cWXxc

In adddition, we recently (May 2022) held a Parent information session all about our change to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds from Jolly Phonics. We were delighted to welcome so many families to this session, and have been delighted with their positive feedback since!

Here are some quotes from our first week of using our new scheme -

"I thought you might like some feedback from home o your new reading books; my child amazed me last night by reading me their whole book all by themselves. I never thought they would be so keen!"

"Reading has always been a battle in our house. Not this week - my child has had to wait for me to be ready to listen to them! I honestly want to thank you all so much"

"My child sat down and read the book fluently to us all. My partner and I are delighted! She could also use expression when she read the book - something that we have never heard her do before!"