When children join Kingsway Junior School, we assess their phonics knowledge to identify any gaps in their understanding. If a child requires additional support with the rapid recall of phonemes and blending sounds to read words, they receive the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up phonics intervention three times a week.

As Little Wandle is the systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme used at our infant school, this provides continuity in teaching and learning, allowing children to build on familiar routines, language and strategies. This consistency supports accelerated progress and enables pupils to secure the phonic knowledge they need to become confident, fluent readers.

In line with the guidance in The Reading Framework, we use a high-quality SSP programme to ensure that pupils who need additional phonics teaching receive timely intervention to keep up rather than catch up. Teaching is carefully targeted to address gaps in learning as soon as they are identified, preventing children from falling further behind and enabling them to access the wider curriculum with increasing confidence.

Children are also provided with fully decodable reading books that are carefully matched to their current decoding ability, ensuring they practise and apply the phonic knowledge they have been taught with books they can read successfully.

In most cases, children make rapid progress and quickly read at age-related expectations. Where additional support is needed, pupils receive individual phonics tutoring through the Forward with Phonics programme to address specific gaps in their phonic knowledge and strengthen the application of these skills in reading. This targeted intervention is overseen and monitored by our specialist dyslexia teacher to ensure that every child receives the support they need to become a successful reader.