Phonics and Early Reading
At Linton Mead Primary School we use ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’ as our phonics and early reading programme. This is a systematic synthetic phonics programme which enables teachers to support children in developing their phonic knowledge for reading and writing. Little Wandle is based on the original Letters and Sounds programme, but has been extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme meeting all the expectations of the national curriculum.
Please click here to see the full progression overview of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
Little Wandle progression overview
Supporting your child with phonics
The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home.
These three videos show you how to pronounce the sounds. Notice how the children don’t add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, so they say:‘t’ not ‘tuh’.
How we teach phonics:
- In our Nursery, the children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. We focus on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
- In Reception and Year 1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught for approximately 20 to 30 minutes every day.
- By the end of Reception, we expect children will to be secure in Phase 4 of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. At the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of Phase 5.
- In Year 2 and Year 3, phonic lessons are taught daily to children where appropriate. Again, we follow the Little Wandle programme with a focus on plugging any gaps identified through assessment.
- In Years 3 to 6, there are planned sessions following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised age 7+ programme. These sessions take place daily and are beneficial for new arrivals to our school.
- Staff have been trained to teach Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
There are some really useful videos for parents on the Little Wandle website; you can also find them on YouTube. Explore how we teach blending, tricky words and alien words.
Blending phonemes
Reading tricky words
Alien words
Reading practice book
Your child’s reading practice book is available online through Collins ebooks. You will need your child’s username and password to access the book. This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. Listen to them read the book.
Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.
Click the image below to sign in to your child's account.
Sharing book
In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together. Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them.
Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, and explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!
You will find more useful resources on the Little Wandle website. Please click the image below.
