Little Wandle- Phonics

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is our new systematic synthetic phonics programme used here at Benson.   

This is a fully comprehensive programme where children start learning single letter sounds in the autumn term of their Reception year and it builds in progression throughout Reception year and Year One, enabling children to recognise, blend and decode different sounds. 

Phonics is taught every day and children learn to apply their phonics skills in reading practise sessions three times a week, developing their fluency and comprehension skills along the way.  

The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds (phonemes) and writing their graphemes (letters). There are also useful videos so you can see how your child is taught in school and be able to confidently support their reading at home. 

Through Reception and Year 1, half-termly assessments take place to help identify children who have gaps in their phonic knowledge and identify those children who may need additional practice. Daily assessment of learning also takes place within the classroom so we can quickly identify any children who are in danger of falling behind. For such children we undertake a daily programme of ‘Keep Up’ interventions. 

Reading Practice Sessions 

All Reception, Year 1 and 2 children, will have the opportunity within Little Wandle to read fully decodable books with an adult 3 times per week during ‘Reading Practice’ sessions.  

These reading practice sessions each have a different focus which include decoding, prosody and comprehension. Our reading books in Reception, Y1 and Y2 are 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Big Cat books'.

Please visit the Little Wandle website below which has a good deal of information about how parents can support their child with phonics at home. 

For parents - Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)