At Cuddington we teach phonics through the ‘Little Wandle’ programme.

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. Based on the original Letters and Sounds, but extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme meeting all the expectations of the National Curriculum, and preparing your children with the foundations to becoming highly competent and lifelong readers

In Nursery children are initially taught to listen carefully to different kinds of sounds, moving on to tuning in to the sounds of English language. This forms the foundation for learning phonics for reading, writing and spelling.

The Little Wandle programme begins at Reception and the progression has been organised so that children are taught from the simple to more complex sounds both read (as phonemes) and written (as graphemes) as well as taking into account the frequency of their occurrence in the most commonly encountered words. All the graphemes taught are practised in words, sentences, and later on, in fully decodable books. Children review and revise sounds and words, daily, weekly and across terms and years, in order to move this knowledge into their long term memory. Children need to learn to read as quickly as reasonably possible, so they can move from learning to read, to reading to learn, giving them access to the treasure house of reading. Children who are not keeping-up with their peers will be given additional practice through keep-up sessions.

Children will be heard read regularly in class by the teacher. The books that they read are carefully matched to their phonics level and they will be sent home books that link to the sounds that they have been taught previously.  

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

Reading practice 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.

Sharing book

Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

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, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!