As soon as children join our school in Nursery, they being a pre-phonics programme getting them ready to access our whole school synthetic phonics programme: Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised. The programme overview can be accessed via PDF below. 

We use the Big Cat Collins books to compliment the phonics we teach. These are shared with children in F2 and Year 1 at least 3 times a week in school and sent home for further practice and to allow families to celebrate reading with children. 

There are some great resources which can be accessed here for parents and we will invite Reception and Year 1 parents in for a Phonics Workshop at least annually within the year. For parents | Letters and Sounds

How we teach tricky words - video accessed here

Children beyond KS1 who need support in reading are part of our Little Wandle Catch Up programme delivered by TA's across the school. They are assessed regularly to ensure they are making good progress as we recognise the skill of reading is the gateway to learning. 

From Y2 (Spring Term), we use Orbital Reading as a programme to support children acquire fluency, comprehension and inference whilst reading texts. Orbital Reading is a programme created by "The Literacy Advisor" and very much influenced by current research and The Reading Framework (2023). The texts we study in Orbital Reading are selected carefully to inspire children at our school to read a wide range of texts and children can borrow the complete Orbital text having been exposed to a short excerpt which they have studied in the classroom. These texts form our Reading Spine. Orbital Reading principles are:  

• Following a daily lesson structure. 
• Supports practitioners to create text-driven reading lessons. 
• Can be used with a range of texts.  
• For Year Two to Year Six

We promote children enjoying reading books at Stanhope. We have fantastic library spaces which are well-designed and curated via the Junior Librarian system. 

We encourage children to read at least x4 a week and record their reading in their Reading Diary. Every week, we talk about current favourite titles being read by our Stanhope Stars and throughout the year, we maximise every opportunity to discuss the importance of reading and the huge impact books can have on our lives!