At Joy Lane, we aim to develop confident, fluent and passionate readers and writers from an early stage. We follow the government validated systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) called ‘Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds Revised’. This is a fully comprehensive programme designed to teach children to read, using the skill of decoding and blending sounds together to form words.

Children are introduced to Phonics in Nursery through rhyming and word games. Children then access daily explicit Phonics sessions in Year R and Year 1, with support being provided further through the school if necessary via the Rapid Catch Up programme. Little Wandle ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through the school. As a result, the children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read.  

Find our full Reception and Year 1 teaching programme overview here to see what your child will learn and when: Programme Overview Reception and Year 1

Our Reading Policy (below) outlines our phonics teaching and assessment in more detail. 

Supporting your Child at Home

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. These resources will help you to support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home.

Watch these videos or use the downloadable guides to support your pronunciation of the sounds.

These videos will show you how we are teaching specific aspects of Phonics in class: