READING
Phonics and Early Reading Curriculum
Here at Carr Hill Primary School, we want every child to become a confident, fluent reader and writer. Reading sits right at the heart of our curriculum because we know it opens the door to learning in every subject.
To give children the best possible start, we teach phonics and early reading using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is a well‑structured, highly effective phonics programme that helps children learn the building blocks of reading in a clear, step‑by‑step way. From the very beginning of Nursery and Reception, children follow the Little Wandle progression, allowing them to steadily build their knowledge of letters and sounds so they can read and spell with increasing confidence as they move through school.
Across Carr Hill, staff model how phonics supports reading and writing, not just in phonics lessons, but throughout the school day and across all subjects. We place a strong emphasis on developing children’s language skills because speaking and listening are essential foundations for reading and writing.
By the time children leave us, we want them to read confidently, understand what they read, and enjoy reading for pleasure. We help them develop the skills to tackle new or tricky vocabulary and encourage them to see themselves as readers, whether they’re reading for fun or to learn something new.
Because teaching every child to read well is so important to us, we have a dedicated Phonics and Reading Leaders who work closely together to guide our early reading approach. They support staff, monitor progress, and make sure phonics is taught consistently and effectively across the school, following the Little Wandle programme with fidelity.
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised
At Carr Hill Primary School, we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parent resources to help families feel confident and involved in their child’s reading journey. These resources explain how phonics works, why sharing books at home is so important, and how children learn key skills such as blending sounds to read words. We share this information online and through regular reading events and workshops in school, so parents can see exactly how we teach early reading and how they can support at home.
We want every child to succeed in reading, so we provide Daily Keep‑Up sessions for any child who needs a little extra practice. These short sessions are taught by fully trained staff and follow the same Little Wandle progression, routines and language that children already know from their phonics lessons. The teaching is broken down into smaller steps with lots of repetition, helping children secure their learning and grow in confidence.
Our aim is simple: every child keeps up, not catches up.
Group Reading Sessions
Children who are following the Little Wandle programme read fully decodable books with an adult at least three times a week during our Group Reading sessions. Each session has a clear purpose, helping children focus on one key skill at a time without overwhelming their working memory. These sessions are built around three essential parts of early reading:
- Decoding - using phonics to read words accurately
- Prosody - reading with understanding, expression and a natural rhythm
- Comprehension - talking about the book to deepen understanding of the text
After practising in school, children take their decodable book home. This gives them the chance to build fluency, show their growing confidence, and share their reading success with parents and carers.
In Year 2, we make sure children finish the full set of core decodable books (up to Phase 5, Set 5). When they are ready to move on, we complete a final fluency check to ensure they can read with good speed and accuracy - around 60 words per minute with at least 90% accuracy. This helps us know they are fully prepared for the next stage of their reading journey.
Supporting Your Child with Reading
Even though your child is taught to read every day at school, the reading you do together at home makes a huge difference. Just a few minutes of shared reading can boost their confidence, fluency and love of books.
Your child will bring home two types of reading books:
- A reading practice book – matched exactly to their phonics stage. They should be able to read this independently and with growing fluency.
- A sharing book – a book chosen for enjoyment. This one is for you to read together.
Reading Practice Book
This book is carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If it seems “easy,” that’s perfect - it means your child can focus on reading smoothly, confidently and with expression.
When reading this book at home:
- Listen to your child read and celebrate their success.
- If they get stuck on a word, simply tell them the word and let them continue.
- After reading, chat about the story or information together.
These books help children practise the phonics they’ve learned in school and build strong reading fluency.
Sharing Book
Sharing books help children fall in love with reading. They are not meant to be read independently - they are for you to enjoy together.
With a sharing book, you might:
- Read the story aloud or take turns.
- Talk about the pictures and characters.
- Predict what might happen next.
- Use fun voices or explore interesting facts in non‑fiction books.
The most important thing is that you enjoy the book together and make reading a positive, relaxed experience.
For more information have a read of these documents:
Getting Started - Foundations for a Love of Reading - guidance for parents
Getting Started - Foundations for Language - guidance for parents
Getting Started - Foundations for Phonics - guidance for parents
To view the full programme overview have a look at: Programme Overview
Supporting Resources
We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision.
https://vimeo.com/838275928?dnt=1
https://player.vimeo.com/video/742989497
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
Children in year 1 throughout the country will all be taking part in a phonics screening check during the same week in June. Children in year 2 will also take the check if they did not achieve the required result when in year 1 or they have not taken the test before. Headteachers will decide whether it is appropriate for each of their pupils to take the phonics screening check. The phonics screening check is designed to confirm whether individual children have learnt phonic decoding and blending skills to an appropriate standard.
What happens during the screening?
The check contains 40 words.
Each child will sit 1:1 and read each word aloud to a teacher. The check will take approximately 15 minutes per child, although all children are different and will complete the check at their own pace. The list of words the children read is a combination of 20 real words and 20 pseudo-words (nonsense words). The pseudo-words will be shown to your child with a picture of an alien. This gives your child context for the pseudo-word, which is independent of any existing vocabulary they may have. Pseudo-words are included because they will be new to all pupils; they do not favor children with good vocabulary knowledge or visual memory of words.
KS2 Reading Curriculum
Reading is central to our curriculum because it unlocks learning across every subject. We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme Pathways to Read. Units of work are delivered using high-quality texts and children are given varied opportunities for reading. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the reading activities provided.
The programme is delivered through whole class shared reading lessons. In these reading sessions, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills in each session. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently.
Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.
For pupils still needing support with phonics from years 3-6, we provide an individual reading programme that has phonically decodable texts at the heart of it.
We also use Pathways to Write to drive our writing curriculum. This aligns with Pathways to Read ensuring meaningful links for our pupils with texts and topics that are used across Literacy, Humanities and Science.
