Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, and this starts from the day they start their learning journey with us here at Lantern Primary and Nursery. We want children to be able to read with fluency, for comprehension and understanding but also because they simply love to read. We prioritise mastering the early reading skills as we recognise this provides the vital foundations needed. We expose the children to a range of quality texts and ensure that all reading books are matched to the individual child’s reading ability.
Phonics lessons are built into the daily timetable from nursery through to the end of key stage 1, with additional opportunities throughout the day provided to flash sound cards and words at the children as well as offer bespoke intervention to those children needing it. Our high-quality phonics sessions follow the Little Wandle programme and all staff have received the full training as well as additional bespoke professional development opportunities. This ensures our phonics sessions are delivered both effectively and with fidelity. The children progress through the scheme following the recommended road map for learning letter sounds and names. Six weekly assessment periods are built into this structure so that children are receiving the teaching they need. For children who have gaps in their learning 1:1 or small group interventions are timetabled to try and help them catch up.
Phonic sessions in nursery begin by listening and identifying sounds and noises in their learning environment, as the year progresses the children learn the very early sounds and begin to match these sounds to objects. Much of this learning is practical and delivered through speaking and listening activities as well as games. In reception, pupils progress through a greater number of sounds and blends, their learning includes blending and segmenting different sounds together to make words. This learning is recorded in the individual children’s phonics books. When the children enter key stage one, they continue to learn a range of more complex sounds including families of letters which sound the same but are made up of different letters. Reading and writing is part of every child’s phonic lesson in key stage one.
To ensure that the programme is delivered well, we have received support from St John Bosco’s English Hub. Additional professional development has been provided to the English Lead who has then worked with staff delivering phonics to further develop their practice. Our phonic screening results demonstrate this is having the right impact on both our staff and children.
The partnership with home is vital in creating successful and confident readers. It is our expectation that every child reads every day at home as we believe this will provide the foundations to achieving confident, knowledgeable and fluent readers. Our open-door policy, workshops and invites for parents to join their children in classrooms provides parents with the understanding of how best to support their children with phonics and early reading at home. We are also proud of the links we have with volunteers at the local church who come in and read with our key stage 1 children every week,
