Wakefield Snapethorpe Primary School

Phonics and Early Reading

Intent 

At Snapethorpe Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception 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. Children apply their phonics knowledge during carefully matched group reading sessions, helping them develop accuracy, fluency and confidence as readers. After learning phonics, we want our children to become fluent readers who read to learn and read for understanding. We use the Little Wandle Fluency Books alongside Lexia to support their reading journey. Children who need additional support are identified quickly and targeted interventions are put in place to help them make accelerated progress.

Implementation

Foundations in Nursery

· We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:

• sharing high-quality stories and poems
• learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
• activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
• attention to high-quality language.

We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception.

Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

Phonics is taught daily in Key Stage 1 and Reception. Children make a strong start in Reception, with daily phonics teaching beginning in the first weeks of the autumn term.  We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress. Phonics teaching is complemented with our three reads a week using the Little Wandle Big Cat books. Children then take these books home to continue to develop their fluency.  All staff delivering phonics are fully trained in the Little Wandle approach and receive regular coaching from the Phonics and Early Reading Lead to ensure consistently high-quality teaching."

Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read

Any child who needs additional practice receives daily keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.

Beyond Phonics

Once children have secured their understanding of phonics, teaching moves on to the Little Wandle Spelling Units in Year 2. Children in Year 2 also progress onto Little Wandle Fluency reading books. Children read three times a week with a trained adult.  In addition to this, our Year 2 children use the Lexia reading programme three times a week to help develop their fluency and comprehension further. 

Rapid Catch-Up

Higher up school, we timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who still needs phonics teaching. This ensures children quickly close gaps in learning and keep pace with their peers. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach using the Rapid Catch-Up resources. Children then also use Lexia to help support accelerated progress. 

Impact

Assessment

We use our assessments effectively to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support so that it can be implemented as soon as they need it.

Assessment for learning:

• Used daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support
• Weekly during review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings

Summative assessment is used:

• We use the Little Wandle half termly assessments every six weeks following the Little Wandle Phonics Programme to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.
• Rapid Catch-Up assessments are completed every four weeks for children in Year 2 and above
• Little Wandle Fluency Assessments are used in Year 2 and above every term and when needed throughout the term.
• HeadStart assessments are completed termly from Year 2 onwards to support our understanding of each child's reading attainment and progress.

Statutory assessment

• Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check. Any child not passing the check re-sits it in Year 2. Below are our Phonics Screening Results for the last 3 years.  

Our phonics outcomes have improved significantly over the last three years, with attainment rising from 58% in 2024 to 83% in 2026, exceeding the national average in 2026.

• Children sit their Key Stage 1 non statutory SATs in Year 2 and then the statutory Key Stage 2 SATs in Year 6. 

Working in Partnership with Parents and Families

At Snapethorpe Primary School, we want to encourage every child to read with a grown up at home every night. Children who read regularly grow in confidence much more quickly and develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime. In recognition of the important role parents/carers have we hope our home/school reading initiatives will motivate children to read at home whilst earning ‘rewards’ for their efforts.

We invite parents and carers in throughout the year to take part in 'Family Phonics Sessions' where parents learn alongside their children. In Key Stage 1, we also host 'Family Reading Sessions' where parents join us once a week to read for pleasure with their child during our Early Bird activity. 

In school, we use Reading Buddies as peer to peer support for our Key Stage 1 children. Children pair up with children in Upper Key Stage 2 and once a week, they practise reading together. Our Upper Key Stage 2 reading buddies receive training from our reading leader so that they can support our younger children in reading their phonics book.