Phonics and Early Reading
At Clifton-upon-Teme Primary School we strive for all of our children to become confident, engaged, and fluent readers. To do this, children are supported to develop their competence in word reading and language comprehension, and to engage with a range of high-quality and diverse fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts and experiences which aim to nurture a strong reading culture in our school. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose and we believe in the importance of teaching children systematic, synthetic phonics as a firm foundation for reading because being able to read most words ‘at a glance’ leaves children more free to focus on the meaning of what has been read, and therefore, to develop a real love of reading.
Children are taught to read using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Phonics programme from Reception, with whole class Phonics lessons and three times weekly 'Reading Practice Sessions' in Reception and Year One, and Little Wandle Spelling Sessions in Year Two. Group and individual keep-up provision is provided for any child not keeping up with the programme within these year bands, and for any children who have not completed the programme by the end of Year One, for as long as this is needed. The teaching of Phonics is also supported by planned for opportunities for children to develop their vocabulary across all areas of the curriculum in order to support their comprehension of the words they are able to decode phonetically.
Children are heard read regularly by trained members of staff. This takes place in groups and one-to-one.
In addition to Phonics teaching, children are supported to 'Read for Pleasure' in a variety of ways including dedicated and protected daily Story and Rhyme Times, inviting book corners in all classrooms, opportunities for regular 'book talk,' a school 'Reading Buddy' system and opportunities to access the school library and take home 'Reading for Pleasure' books as well as phonetically-decodable reading books. Many of our staff and children genuinely enthuse over books!
You will find our school Early Reading and Phonics Policy here:
Phonics and Early Reading Policy
Core Texts and Rhymes
As part of our Early Reading Curriculum, Fledglings and Robins classes both have set list of Core Texts and Rhymes that the children will become familiar with during their time in that class. These include fiction books, non-fiction books and rhymes/songs. The lists have been chosen to ensure that children experience a range of text types, genres, styles and topics within their reading and the lists contain diverse and high-quality texts. Some of these texts will be studied within Literacy lessons or chosen as a focus text, whilst others will be texts that children experience and talk about regularly in Story Time and which they have regular access to in the class book corner.
Workshops and Events
Reading and Phonics Family Workshop
* date coming soon *
~ Please find the slides from the event below ~
Helping your Child at Home
Sharing Reading for Pleasure books with your child at home, and hearing them read their Phonics books, are two of the most important ways in which you can support your child's learning and education. We encourage and support all of our families to ensure that children are reading at home as often as possible, ideally every day. We also provide workshops, resources and regular communication to support this and to ensure that these experiences are valuable for pupils and families.
Tips and tricks for reading Phonics Books with your child
Tips and Tricks for reading Library Books with your child
The Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised website contains some great resources for parents/families, which can help you to support your child:
Below you will find videos and resources which teach the correct pronunciation of each taught sound and how it is written:
Phase 2 (Part 1) Phase 2 (Part 2) Phase 3 Phase 5Capital Letter Formation