Ranked 49th out of 16,783 in The Sunday Times Parent Power league tables of the best primary schools in England. The ranking is based upon average scores in English, grammar and maths.
Ranked 49th out of 16,783 in The Sunday Times Parent Power league tables of the best primary schools in England. The ranking is based upon average scores in English, grammar and maths.
Latchmere School

Phonics and Reading Scheme

Phonics at Latchmere School

At Latchmere School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children can tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Latchmere School, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.
Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

  • We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
Daily Keep-up lessons ensure every child learns to read

  • Any child who needs additional practice has daily ‘Keep-Up’ support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons have smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
  • We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 or 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check.
  • If any child in Year 3 to 6 has gaps in their phonic knowledge when reading or writing, we plan phonics ‘catch-up’ lessons to address specific reading/writing gaps.
Teaching reading: Reading practice sessions three times a week

  • We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week.
  • Each reading practice session has a clear focus. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
  • decoding
  • prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
  • comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

  • In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.
  • These reading practice sessions continue into Year 1 and Year 2.
Assessment

  • Every half-term from the end of Autumn 1 in Reception, children’s phonic knowledge is assessed, including their ability to sound and blend words with sounds they have learnt.
  • These assessments help us match your child to a decodable reading book that they are able to read successfully.
 
Home Reading

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to ensure that children at Latchmere School are lifelong readers. We value input and collaboration with parents to ensure that all children have both the skill and the will to read. We know that parents are an invaluable resource in ensuring children experience success with reading.

From Reception, each child will take home a Reading Record, where parents can make notes on their child’s experiences of reading the Reading Practice book or share any books they have enjoyed at home with their child.

 
Reading Practice Book

  • The reading practice book is for your child to read to you to practise their developing reading skills.
  • They have already read this book at school and your teacher will have checked the book is at the correct level.
  • This book should be fully decodable for your child. After the earlier stages of learning in Reception, they should read 9 out of 10 words ‘at a glance’ and 1 in 10 words ‘sounding and blending’.
  • This book needs to be returned to school daily as the reading practice books are used at school in reading sessions.
  • Your child should be able to read this book without any significant help.
  • Reading this book until your child is reading all the words ‘at a glance’ will help your child to build a bank of words in their visual memory.
 
Sharing Book

  • To encourage lifelong reading, it is essential children read for pleasure!
  • The sharing book is a book for enjoyment.
  • This is a book for you to read to your child, instead of a book that they attempt to read.
  • These books offer opportunities to talk about the pictures and enjoy the story.
  • The sharing book can be changed regularly – please let your child’s teacher know if you would like another book.
Resources for Parents
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised have resources which shows you the sounds your child will be learning and the sequence they will be learning them in. You can find these resources here.
Below, there are videos which you can use to help support you and your child to pronounce the sounds they are taught correctly. Correct pronunciation is key for your child to be able to successfully blend sounds together and read words:
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