Phonics at Mossford Green Primary School

We ensure that the teaching of reading focuses on developing children’s skills in:

· Word reading

· Comprehension (both listening and reading)

· A love of reading

It is essential that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils can read fluently and with confidence, so that they are empowered for their future education and for life.

We also want children to develop a love of reading through immersion in a variety of text types.

To ensure children become skilled readers, we:

1.) Have a whole-school systematic phonics programme

Since September 2026, we have been using the government-validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme called Little Wandle: Letters & Sounds Revised.

The programme is designed to teach children to read from Reception to Year 2, using the skills of decoding and blending sounds together to form words.

“The Little Wandle programme provides a full progression through all commonly occurring GPCs* (sounds), working from simple to more complex, and taking into account the frequency of their occurrence in the most commonly encountered words.” Please visit the Little Wandle website for more information. The ‘For Parents’ section provides videos demonstrating how to pronounce the Phase 2 and Phase 3 sounds and how we teach children to read words. https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

2.) Send reading books home

Nursery

Books for sharing are sent home for families to enjoy together, helping to develop a love of reading.

Reception and Year 1

Key words are sent home once introduced in class. Children are sent home with reading books from the Little Wandle scheme that match the sounds taught.

They also bring home books for sharing with their families to foster a love of reading.

Year 2

Some children who are continuing with the Little Wandle scheme will continue to bring home reading books matched to the sounds they have learned. Children who have completed the Little Wandle programme and passed the phonics screening check will bring home reading books matched to their reading ability following the Little Wandle fluency programme until they are ready to be a free reader.

Children continue to take home sight words to practise. They also bring home books for sharing with their families to encourage a love of reading.

Key Stage 2 (KS2)

Children in KS2 continue to bring home books matched to their reading ability if they have not finished the phonics programme. Once they become Free Readers, they are able to choose books that interest them.

We encourage children not to change their books unless they can show that they have read and understood the current one.