Early Reading and Phonics
Early reading is a key priority at Templenewsam Halton Primary School. We believe every child can learn to read confidently and fluently, and that strong reading skills open the door to wider academic success. We aim to ensure every child develops a love of reading and the language skills needed to communicate clearly and successfully. We teach phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a systematic synthetic phonics programme that allows children to build their knowledge in small steps and apply it in meaningful contexts.
EYFS (Nursery and Reception)
In Nursery, children develop the foundations for reading through high quality stories, rhymes, language rich activities and oral blending. This prepares them for formal phonics teaching.
In Reception, children begin daily Little Wandle phonics lessons from the second week of the Autumn term. They learn to recognise sounds, blend to read and segment to spell. Children practise reading using fully decodable books that match the sounds they have been taught so they experience success and grow in confidence.
Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2)
Children continue daily phonics lessons to deepen their knowledge of the alphabetic code and apply it in reading and writing. Reading practice sessions are delivered three times each week using Little Wandle decodable books to develop decoding, expression and comprehension. Children who need extra help receive daily Keep up sessions or targeted catch up support. Any child not yet secure by the end of Year 2 continues phonics intervention until they can read fluently.