Within our Federation, we understand that literacy and communication are essential life skills. Through our English curriculum, we enable children to develop their skills and knowledge and to communicate effectively and creatively through spoken and written language.

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP). Phonics is a method schools use to teach your child to read the sounds in words. It helps your child to learn to read quickly and skilfully and is an essential part of your child’s early education.

Phonics is taught daily in structured sessions in Reception and Key Stage One. Learning is then revisited within independent activities throughout the week. Once children have a good grasp of phonics, they move on to learning other spelling rules.

Little Wandle Reading and Collins E-Books

This section contains information on how to use your child's username and log in to access the Collins Big Cat Little Wandle E-Books. Please follow the link to the website to log into your child's account, or see the instructions on how to use the site.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

What is the Phonics Screening Check?

The phonics screening check is a quick and easy check of your child’s phonics knowledge. It helps the school confirm whether your child has made the expected progress.

What are alien/pseudo-words’?

The check will contain a mix of real words and ‘alien’ or ‘pseudo words’. Children will be told before the check that there will be alien that he or she will not have seen before. Many children will be familiar with this because the Little Wandle scheme uses ‘alien words’ when they teach phonics. Alien words are important to include because words such as ‘vap’ or ‘jound’ are new to all children. Children cannot read the alien by using their memory or vocabulary; they have to use their decoding skills. This is a fair way to assess their ability to decode.

After the check

We will tell you about your child’s progress in phonics and how he or she has done in the screening check in the last half-term of Year 1.

If your child has found the check difficult, we will also tell you what support we have put in place to help your child to improve. You might like to ask how you can support your child to take the next step in reading.

Children who have not met the standard in Year 1 will retake the check in Year 2. All children are individuals and develop at different rates. The screening check ensures that teachers understand which children need extra help with phonic decoding.

Previous Phonics Screening Checks

Below are some previous checks that you can download and practise with your child:

Click here for helpful

information for parents

and carers about phonics