We are part of the Plymouth CAST family of schools. We are a Catholic school welcoming children of all faiths to learn and grow with us. The education and wellbeing of our children is at the heart of everything we do. Our Gospel Values of humility, compassion, kindness, justice, forgiveness, integrity, peace and courage are integral to our whole school community. We inspire all our children to do their best, be their best and have respect for themselves, others and the world we live in. Choosing a school for your child is really important for any parent or carer. If you would like to find out more about our school you are welcome to visit us to meet or wonderful staff and pupils. Please email admin@stjo.uk or phone 01395 264875 to book an appointment. We look forward to seeing you.
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Phonics - Little Wandle

At St Joseph’s we believe that all 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. At St Joseph’s 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.

All teachers and teaching assistants in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectations of progress. Our aim is to use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load.

In our Nursery -
We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:

o   sharing high-quality stories and poems

o   learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes

o   activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending

o   attention to high-quality language.

In Reception and Year 1 -
We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
 
Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 / 3 of the Autumn term.

o   Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.

o   Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

See below for progression and parent advice sheets.

Children are assessed every 6 weeks. This helps us to identify children that need 'keep up' and 'catch up' sessions. Any child who needs additional practice has Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning. 
Click on the image below to find the recording of our phonics workshop that we ran for parents on the 10th November 2021. We hope you will find it useful.