St Thomas' C.E. Primary School

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme at St Thomas CE Primary. The programme draws on the latest research into how children learn best; how to ensure learning stays in children’s long-term memory and how best to enable children to apply their learning to become highly competent readers. The programmes pedagogy ensures optimum learning for the maximum number of children. Taught with fidelity, in parallel to the committed development of vocabulary and comprehension, and in a context that embraces Reading for Pleasure, it can provide reading success for all children, regardless of their background. 

• Is essential for all subject areas  
• Has positive impacts on our children’s lives. Positive attitudes to reading and reading for pleasure have academic, social and emotional benefits for children. 

• Though Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. 
• By decoding words and learning to say the phonic sounds. 
• By blending sounds to read words. 
• To increase our fluency in reading sounds, words and books. 

• Are matched to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised and are fully decodable. 
• Are consistent with every child’s phonetical knowledge. 
• Must allow children to decode and our children cannot use other strategies to work out words (including guessing words by using the pictures or initial sounds or context clues) 
• Will be read in a progressive sequence until our children can decode unfamiliar words confidently and increase their fluency. 

• In addition to practising their independent reading with decodable books, it is vital that children experience a wide range of other quality children’s books that are either read to or with them. 
• These books play an essential role in developing a love of reading.  
• They can be shared or discussed, and provide a stimulus for other activities, including role play, music, art, dance, writing and storytelling. 
• The important distinction is that these books are being shared with the children, but they are using fully phonically decodable books to practise their independent reading. 

• Have an important role in your child learning to read and developing a love for books. 
• Have positive impact on children’s reading ability. 
• Should model the importance of reading to develop fluency. 
• Should encourage children to read their decodable books to them.  
• Should read regularly at home with your child to encourage a love of books, along with widening language and vocabulary skills as well as comprehension skills. 
• Should use voices, expression, discuss unfamiliar vocabulary, talk about the pictures, and predict what might happen next. 
• Should give informative feedback in the home reading diary.  

Phase 2 sounds taught in Reception Autumn 1

Phase 2 sounds taught in Reception Autumn 2

Phase 3 sounds taught in Reception Spring 1

How to say Phase 5 sounds

A quick guide to alien words

How we teach tricky words

How we teach blending