At Loughton School we believe that phonics or spelling (depending on the point of the child's learning journey), writing and reading share a cyclical relationship. They support each other and so without a firm understanding of phonics/spelling, children may not reach their full reading and writing potential. 

We aim to give children the tools and strategies they will need to develop into confident spellers. We aim to instil a love of words by encouraging children to explore words, their origins and meanings. This will in turn feed into their writing and reading. We aim for any teaching of spelling to be robust, challenging and engaging.

Grammar is now taught specifically within our English lessons, and is often referred to as 'SpaG (spelling and grammar). 

 

Spelling

Our spelling vision at Loughton School is for our children to develop an interest in words, their meanings and their origins. From year three to year six, children will be exposed to a wide range of vocabulary so that year on year the children are building a bank of words which they can spell independently. At the beginning of their school journey at Loughton, regular spelling investigations will enable children to learn and explore the written patterns and sounds (graphemes and phonemes) alongside daily practice of common spelling rules and the origins of everyday words. Children will link this learning to a wide range of lessons when reading words and spelling them and daily 10-minute activities will consolidate their knowledge of spelling patterns and relevant vocabulary. As they move up the school, their regular spelling practice time will focus more on collecting banks of words which show similarities, building resilience and independence.

Children will learn to use their prior knowledge of phonics from KS1 to help them spell words. They will become independent at identifying the tricky sounds within a word that makes spelling challenging. By learning about word families, children can make links between words with similar sounds.

Children have regular opportunities to show their knowledge during discussions in class. Their spelling books reflect the journey of their learning and they become more resilient when making plausible and sensible attempts at spelling words based on what they have learnt.

The school has based its spelling strategy on the spelling books by Jane Considine.

 

Phonics

Phonics is the foundation of reading and lifelong learning. It is essential for children to learn to read as quickly as possible, enabling them to transition from learning to read to using reading as a tool for learning and enjoyment. At Loughton School we are determined that every child will become confident, fluent readers and be competent at phonically decoding words. 

At Loughton School, we work closely with our feeder schools to support us with the phonics gaps and specific gap of knowledge of the children when they join us in year 3. We then use the Little Wandle phonics program (which is also used by one of our main feeder schools) as a targeted approach for children in the early stages of reading, particularly those identified as working below age related expectations. Our phonics program also supports children with special educational needs and helps close the gap for those who require additional assistance. Our goal is to help all children become fluent, confident readers who engage with a wide variety of texts.

We collaborate closely with our feeder schools to identify and address phonics gaps in children's knowledge. To support this, we have implemented the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-Up Scheme, ensuring that children who need extra support can make quick progress. We follow Little Wandle's expectations of progress, which outline the learning that takes place across Phases 2, 3, 4, and 5. ‘LW Rapid Catch-Up’ is a specific targeted approach for children aged 7+ who need extra support learning to read. With its own set of age-appropriate books, the programme ensures that all children are exposed to high quality fiction and non-fiction texts, that are relevant to both their chronological age and the stage of their emerging reading skills.

To meet the needs of our children, we have developed a carefully structured, progressive approach to teaching phonics. The Little Wandle scheme provides a clear, sequential structure for learning. Teachers begin each session by revisiting previously learnt sounds and blends before introducing new ones. During lessons, teachers model and scaffold reading strategies, helping children to read independently.

Children also have opportunities for shared class reading and group reading. Carefully selected reading books, matched to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences taught in each lesson, are provided for students. Children read in pairs or small groups, allowing the teacher to monitor their progress and assess whether they are applying the phonics skills they've learnt.

To track progress, we conduct end-of-unit and monthly assessments. These assessments, along with Little Wandle Rapid Catch-Up assessments and NFER reading papers, help us monitor children's learning and identify areas that need further development. Data from these assessments is analysed to make informed decisions about next steps in instruction. It’s important to note that we continuously assess children during phonics sessions, and groups are flexible, allowing us to adjust based on individual needs.

For more information and how you can support your child,  please click this link: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/my-letters-and-sounds/engaging-parents/