Harrietsham Church of England Primary School
Phonics & Reading
Statement of Intent
At Harrietsham, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill that will support children for the rest of their lives. All children who arrive at the school, regardless of their starting points and educational history, will leave the school able to read with sufficient fluency to access secondary education.
We want to provide opportunities across the curriculum to explore wide ranges of texts and genres, whilst also ensuring children have plenty of time to read for pleasure. A love of reading should be evident as you walk through our school, with well-resourced reading areas and a high-quality library.
Implementation
All of our staff are trained in delivering exciting phonics and reading sessions, with a pro-active English leadership team who continue to deliver regular staff CPD to maintain our high standards.
Harrietsham Reading Journey
Phonics - Little Wandle
Starting in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), children are taught daily phonics lessons using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the DfE. These daily sessions continue throughout EYFS and Year 1, with assessments every term, to ensure all children are on track to meet their age expectations.
Phonics - The sounds our children are taught:
The resources below will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos on the Little Wandle website so you can see how the sounds are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home: For parents | Letters and Sounds.
The link below to the Little Wandle Website includes some videos to show how we teach Phonics at Harrietsham: For parents | Letters and Sounds.
Reading Group Lessons:
In EYFS & Year 1, all children have three reading group sessions with an adult every week. These sessions are structured using the Little Wandle approach and are as follows:
- Session 1 – Decoding – Reading the words.
- Session 2 – Prosody – Reading with expression.
- Session 3 - Comprehension – Understanding the text.
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.
Little Wandle flashcards for parents are available to purchase, If you have bought the Little Wandle at Home Phonics Flashcards don’t forget to check out four fun games to play with your children on the Collins website.
There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:
A reading practice book.
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.
A sharing book.
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, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!
Phonics Newsletters:
View our termly Phonics Newsletters here:
Phonics Progression Documents
Reading
In Year 2 and Key Stage 2, the children are taught as a whole class, with targeted groups in place for those children who require. We follow a robust and evidenced based approach to teaching the comprehension skills called 'Complete Comprehension'. The children take part in questions, debates, research and other activities to encourage a love for reading whilst embedding key reading skills. Teachers will also plan sessions using picture books, poetry and other genres to boost a love of reading and to ensure all children access and enjoy their reading lessons. Our reading curriculum covers all requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum and the 2023 DfE Reading Framework.
All children bring home a Learn to Read and a Love to Read book. The first is a levelled phonics or colour banded book which is levelled at the child’s current reading level (using Little Wandle or Collins fluency assessments). The second is a book chosen by the child which can be read by adults at home for enjoyment. This may come from the school library or class book corner. All classes spend at least 10 minutes every day having class story-time. Children get to listen to their adults reading exciting stories which they have studied in class, or simply books that they enjoy!
Reading from Year 2 to Year 6 - Book Bands
- Book Bands Progression
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Reading Newsletters:
View our termly Reading Newsletters here:
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Children Requiring Support
Children who are working below their age expectation are supported using Little Wandle’s Keep-Up (EYFS / Y1), Catch-Up (Y2 / KS2) or SEN (SEN Register) intervention programmes. This will be regularly assessed and timetabled to ensure children are supported in their reading.
Our School Library
Our children set us the challenge to upgrade their library with a Forest theme.
See below to see our magical library in action...
Impact
When children leave Harrietsham, they have been exposed to a wide range of high-quality texts and genres as part of their learning, and as part of reading for pleasure.
They are confident, fluent readers, equipped with the skills to decode and understand texts and engage in conversations about their own preferences.
We aim for above national average results for reading and phonics across the school, with our lowest 20% of children being supported from EYFS to Y6, so that children reach their full reading potential and are ready to access any text they encounter in the next phase of their education journey or in their lives outside school.
Reading Subject Framework
Our Framework gives details of all of the areas of Maths that we would want an Age Expected child to have mastered at the end of each term. Click the links below to view the Maths Framework for each year group within our school.
Reading Subject Concepts
- Our Reading Concepts are key concepts within the Reading curriculum which we have identified as being important to our children's Reading learning. These concepts run through our Reading Curriculum and are revisited and built upon at various points in our children's educational journey.
- Reading Subject Concepts
Reading Ready to Progress Criteria
- Our Reading Ready to Progress Criteria are the key objectives that we would like each child to have mastered before moving onto the next year group curriculum. Without mastering these Ready to Progress Criteria, the children may develop gaps in their learning.
- Reading Ready to Progress.pdf
Useful Links For Parents
Phonics and Reading Leadership
Mr Walker is our Reading Leader. For more information about Reading at our school, please contact him via the school office.
Miss Frazier is our Phonics Leader. For more information about Phonics at our school, please contact her via the school office.
