Teaching at Forest Fields Primary and Nursery School!

At Forest Fields, we know that competence in reading is the key to independent learning and it is therefore given the highest priority, enabling the children to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. Success in reading has a direct effect on progress in all other areas of the Curriculum and is crucial in developing children’s self-confidence and motivation. At Forest Fields we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised to teach phonics so children can learn to read

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds

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All teachers and support staff are trained to teach within the programme. All work together to plan, deliver and monitor the teaching of phonics  in order to ensure that expectations are high.

EYFS Curriculum

At the end of Foundation Stage the pupils will have learnt the routines and responsibilities needed

to be readers. Building on what pupils already know about stories and reading, the adults help to

develop early reading behaviours through shared and modeled reading e.g. holding a book the

right way up, turning pages, reading text from left to right and knowing that print carries

meaning. As pupils develop curiosity and enthusiasm about print, they are able to select, read

and talk about a range of fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

• Reception children begin to learn all the phonemes in phases 2 - 4 in the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics programme when they enter Reception Class.

• This is taught at a rapid pace: children are introduced to 1 phoneme per day throughout the first term. The teaching of this is multi-sensory and active using the wider school environment such as the Early Years outdoor area to ensure purposeful learning is taking place. Opportunities are continually provided to develop children’s CLLD skills in adult-led and child-initiated activities every day, with a focus on speaking and listening.

• Letter sounds are posted on Google Classroom for Parents and Carers to support their child at home to learn to read using phonics. Parents and carers up to date on the progress being made in school.

• Children are continually assessed on their ability to learn, recall and apply phonics to books that are phonically decodable.

• Intervention activities will be in place for those children who are not secure with learning their phonics and gaps in phonic knowledge so far.

• Environments will be vocabulary-rich, inviting and well resourced, allowing children to build on their vocabulary and confidence in using increasingly sophisticated sentences.

• Children will take home Collins Big Cat books that are based on the progression of phonemes in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Please ask your child to read this story book to you at home to practise the phonemes they have read, to develop vocabulary and develop positive attitudes towards reading.

Key Stage One

In Year 1, the teaching and learning focuses on building on the skills learnt in the Early Years Foundation Stage.  At Key Stage One the emphasis is on developing pupils’ interest and pleasure as they learn to read independently and with confidence. Children focus on words and sentences and how they are put together to form texts. They bring meaning to the texts they read and say what they like and dislike about them. Adults model a range of strategies including sentence structure, grammar and word recognition in context. At the end of Key Stage One most children will be developing their comprehension skills.

• Teachers will model reading strategies during shared reading sessions, whilst children have the opportunity to develop reading strategies and to discuss texts in detail during guided reading sessions.

• All classes in Key Stage 1 will enjoy a class story each day.

• Children behind in their reading, or making insubstantial progress, will get daily phonics interventions where they learn sounds and practise reading the words. Children may also be part of small groups revising ‘gaps’ in their knowledge.

• There will be support for children new to English, delivered by EAL TA’s which is closely linked to core learning in English, Phonics and mathematical language.

Key Stage Two

• Reading comprehension is taught daily, focusing on specific reading-skills whilst reading across the curriculum focuses on the understanding of key terms, knowledge and vocabulary.

• Key Stage 2 children take home a book banded book. This will be issued according to their reading level.

• Opportunities are given to children to read independently each day.

• Reading is recorded in home school diaries and checked weekly. Expectations are also given to children that they should read at least 20 - 30 minutes of their reading book at home each night and record this in their diaries.

• Children use appropriate book-banded books to ensure that their reading book is accessible yet challenging.

• Children with Special Educational Needs may have additional class support, work in small groups and one-to-one sessions, along with further developing language and communication skills.