At Sandwich Infant School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. To achieve this, we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. By the second week of Reception, structured daily phonics lessons begin, continuing through Key Stage 1 to ensure all children can confidently decode unfamiliar words, build excellent language skills, and learn to spell accurately. We also continue to build on the early phases of phonics through child-led and adult-led experiences that focus on nursery rhymes, stories, and oral blending. 

Our reading practice sessions take place three times a week in small groups led by a fully trained adult. We use books that are precisely matched to each child's current phonic knowledge, ensuring they can read with high levels of success. Each session has a specific focus to protect the children's working memory, moving from decoding unfamiliar words in the first session, to practicing prosody and expression in the second, and developing deep comprehension in the third. Any child who needs a bit of extra practice receives swift, daily keep-up support tailored to their specific needs.

We highly value reading as a crucial life skill and work hard to foster a true love for reading across the school. Every classroom features an inviting book corner, and teachers read high-quality stories to the children every single day to introduce them to new worlds and cultures. To support this at home, your child will bring home their decodable reading practice book to share their success with you. Through regular visits to the local library, special author workshops, and consistent communication in our home reading records, we work together as a community to help every child see themselves as a reader for both pleasure and purpose.

Once our children have successfully secured their phonics knowledge, they seamlessly transition from learning to read to a deeper focus on fluency, comprehension and prosody. If they are ready, children will move away from the early decodable books and progress onto fluency books. These texts are designed to build reading speed, stamina, and deeper comprehension, helping children become fully independent and expressive readers who can easily navigate more complex stories and information.

Children also progress from daily phonics lessons to the formal Little Wandle Spelling programme. This structured transition builds directly onto their existing phonic knowledge, shifting the focus toward understanding word structures, prefixes, suffixes, and more complex spelling rules. By explicitly teaching these spelling patterns and exploring vocabulary, we ensure that our fluent readers naturally become confident, accurate, and adventurous writers.