In order to read successfully, children need to be able to recognise words automatically, understand what they are reading and read the text fluently. They need to be able to decode by blending the sounds in words to read them, they need to be able to understand what the word means and the context within which it appears to know how to read the text aloud.
From September 2022, our school has chosen Little Wandle Letters and Sounds as our phonics programme to teach early reading and spelling. Your child will have daily phonic sessions. Phonics is making connections between the sounds of spoken words and the letter shapes that are used to write them down.
During the interactive session, the children are taught the knowledge and skills of how to be a good reader and writer. The scheme is taught from when the children join us in their reception class. Every day the children are introduced to a new phoneme( sound) as well as practising previously taught phonemes. The children are encouraged to use these phonemes during reading and writing activities.
Phonics is a means to an end. The sooner that children can recognise the sounds (phonemes), the letters (graphemes) that represent them and blend them together in order to read words, the sooner they can read for understanding, purpose and pleasure.
Parents play a vital role in a child’s learning. Please see the links below to videos to support parents’ understanding of phonics, and a leaflet and presentation to explain in more detail how phonics is taught at Heymann and how you can support your child.
These three videos show you how to pronounce the sounds. Notice how the children don’t add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, so they say: ‘t’ not ‘tuh’. Use the downloadable information to help your child remember how to write their letters and say their sounds.
The videos on this page show parents how we teach your child specific aspects of phonics in class.
There is more information and films about the Little Wandle programme on their website on the parent page. Here is a QR code linked to the parent page on the Little Wandle website