Phonics

Curriculum Intent

The Phonics Curriculum is designed to ensure that all children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to become fluent, enthusiastic and lifelong readers. At The Gordon Children’s Academy, we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a Department for Education validated systematic synthetic phonics programme, to provide a consistent, progressive and rigorous approach to the teaching of early reading.

Through high-quality daily phonics lessons, children develop secure knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and learn to blend and segment words with accuracy. We believe every child can succeed and strive to ensure that all pupils keep up with the curriculum through effective teaching, regular assessment and timely support.

Our aim is that by the end of Key Stage 1, all children can read fluently, spell confidently and access the wider curriculum through secure reading skills. We also nurture a love of reading so that children leave The Gordon Children’s Academy as confident readers who enjoy books and are well prepared for future learning.

Curriculum Journey

EYFS

Children begin their phonics journey in Reception, where they are taught the foundations of reading through daily systematic phonics lessons using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. They learn to recognise and recall grapheme-phoneme correspondences, blend sounds to read words and segment words to spell. As their knowledge grows, children apply these skills in fully decodable books matched closely to their phonics learning.

Year 1

Children build on their Reception learning by mastering more complex spelling patterns and alternative pronunciations. They develop greater fluency, accuracy and automaticity in reading while continuing to strengthen their spelling and writing skills. Regular assessment ensures that any child requiring additional support receives timely intervention to keep them on track. By the end of Year 1, pupils are prepared to meet the expectations of the Phonics Screening Check and are equipped with the decoding skills needed to become independent readers.

Year 2

Children transition from phonics into spelling through the Little Wandle Bridge to Spelling programme. This enables pupils to apply their phonics knowledge to understand spelling patterns, rules and conventions, supporting them to become accurate and confident writers. Following this, children continue to develop their orthographic knowledge through the Little Wandle Spelling programme, learning to make informed spelling choices and apply their understanding across the curriculum.

Children who do not meet the expected threshold in the Phonics Screening Check, or who are identified as not yet secure in their phonic knowledge, receive targeted support through the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up programme. These carefully planned sessions enable pupils to quickly address gaps in knowledge and develop the decoding skills needed to become successful readers.

Once children have securely completed Phase 5, read Set 5 books for a minimum of five weeks and can read at least 60 words per minute with accuracy and understanding, they move onto the Little Wandle Fluency programme. Fluency sessions develop pupils' reading rate, expression, prosody and comprehension, helping them to read with confidence and meaning. Through repeated reading and discussion of increasingly challenging texts, children become more automatic and fluent readers.

Key Stage 2

As children move through Key Stage 2, they continue to develop their fluency and comprehension skills, enabling them to access more complex texts across the curriculum. By the time pupils leave The Gordon Children’s Academy, they have progressed from learning the foundations of decoding to becoming fluent, confident readers who can read to learn, think critically and enjoy reading for pleasure.