At Whoberley Hall, our aim is to help children read fluently and confidently, enabling them to develop into life-long readers.  We aim to equip them with skills and experiences that enable them to find pleasure from reading for the rest of their lives.

Phonics (Reading and Spelling)

At Whoberley Hall we believe that all of our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Comprehension (Whoberley Reader)

At Whoberley Hall we value reading as a crucial life skill. We teach this through our Whoberley Reader curriculum. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.

Because we believe teaching every child to read is so important, we have a Reading Leader who drives the early reading programme in our school. This person is highly skilled at teaching phonics and reading, and they monitor and support our reading team, so everyone teaches with fidelity to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

Outcomes

We are ambitious for all our children and set high expectations for their reading development. Through high-quality phonics teaching and regular assessment, we are determined that every child will leave Year 1 as a fluent, confident reader with a growing love of reading. Throughout Key Stage 1, children develop the skills and confidence to read and understand a wide range of texts, building strong foundations in decoding, fluency and comprehension. As they progress through Key Stage 2, pupils deepen their understanding of increasingly challenging texts and learn to discuss them using the key reading domains of retrieval, vocabulary, inference, summarising, author’s choice and prediction. By the time they leave Whoberley Hall, we aim for every child to be a proficient reader who can successfully comprehend and analyse a range of texts, while also developing a lifelong enjoyment of reading.

For really helpful videos and further guidance for parents and carers, please click here to take you to the Little Wandle website.