Phonics and Reading

Reading Lead: Mrs Adams

'At Martin Frobisher Infant School we love to read! We put as much effort as we possibly can into ensuring your child will learn to read as quickly as possible. Being able to read is fundamental to all other areas of our curriculum and our dedicated staff team do everything they can to make sure our children can read for themselves with confidence, fluency and understanding by the time they leave us. We love stories and we put all of our efforts into making sure our learners develop a love for reading too'. We are very proud of the amazing progress our children make with their reading during their time at our school'

Mrs Adams, Reading and Phonics Lead

At Martin Frobisher Infant and Nursery School we have recently adopted Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised as our systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Martin Frobisher Infant and Nursery School, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Please use the link below for our Autumn reading information for Reception

How will my child be taught to read at Martin Frobisher Infant School?

• In Nursery, children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on 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 daily at 9am.
• Phonics starts in reception in to ensure the children make a strong start.
• By the end of reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
• By the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
• Reception lessons start at 10 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing to 30 minutes as soon as possible.
• Year 1 lessons are 30 minutes long.
• In Year 2, phonic lessons are taught daily to children where appropriate 
• In Year 2 there are planned phonic catch-up sessions following a set model to address specific reading/writing gaps. 

Here are some videos of the strategies we use through school to support the teaching of early reading.

Here are the sounds that your child will learn in Reception tin Autumn 1 along with this sound pronunciation video.

Here are the sounds that your child will learn in Reception in Autumn 2 along with this sound pronunciation video.

Here are the sounds that your child will learn in Reception in the Spring term along with this sound pronunciation video.

What reading scheme will my child be 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 will 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.  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  

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!

Use the adult prompt cards that we send to give you advise on how to develop their comprehension skills also. 

What is the Year One Phonics Screening Check?

The statutory Year One phonics screening test begins in the week commencing the 1t^th takes place in June. Within this your child will be asked to read a list of words, some of them real words and some of them known as pseudo or ‘alien’ words.  The focus of the screening is to check your child’s phonetic knowledge and their ability to blend and segment words using the sounds they have been taught.

At Martin Frobisher Infant School we pride ourselves in the progress children make in all aspects of their reading from their phonetic knowledge to their comprehension and love for stories and books. Please note that this is a check on their phonetic skills alone and does not take into account your child as a reader. Please continue to read a range of books and stories with your child at home and log reading in their record book.

For more information about the phonics screening check see the video below. 

Here are some games that your child can enjoy at home to get ready for the phonics screening check...

Online phonics games-Real and Alien words

If you have questions about your child's reading journey or about how we teach reading at school, please speak to your class teacher or our reading lead, Mrs Adams.