The Russell team has chosen 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds' as our phonics programme to support children in their learning of early reading and writing.

Phonics is the process of making connections between the sounds in our spoken words and the letters that are used to write them. We usually teach four new sounds a week and have a review lesson at the end of the week. You will find the full teaching programme overview from Reception all the way through to Year One here

Little Wandle Programme Overview

Little Wandle Letters and Sounds

Also in the 'Support for Phonics' section you will find videos to help you with formation and pronunciation. It is really important that you pronounce the sounds correctly at home if you are supporting your child. If after watching the videos you are unsure of anything, please ask your child’s teacher.

There are specific resources for the 'Little Wandle' programme which the children will be very familiar with. To begin with each sound that we teach has either a mnemonic; for example 'a' has an astronaut, or a phrase like boing-boing for ‘oi’. This helps the children recognise and remember the graphemes (the written form of a sound).

During a phonics lesson when we teach a new sound, we also read words that contain the new sound. This allows the children to practise what they have learned. We then move on to reading a sentence containing some of these words. We have displays in the classroom and on the tables to support the children throughout the day.

Tricky Words

Not all words are phonetically plausible, this simply means that you cannot sound them out using the phonics rules, these are called tricky words. You can find the tricky words in the 'How We Teach' section of the website These words will be learnt through phonics lessons and will appear in the books the children read.

Supporting your child with reading

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book: This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A sharing book: Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please do not worry that it seems too easy, your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. We would like you to listen to them read the book, remember to give them lots of praise and celebrate their success! If they can not read a word please read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Sharing book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together. Please remember that you should not expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them, discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters and explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that your child has fun whilst learning the key skill of reading!