Phonics
At Gledhow, Nursery to Year 2 students have regular phonics sessions using the Little Wandle phonics scheme. They learn new phonemes and graphemes, practising with matching games and writing.
Nursery focuses on learning phonics through rhymes, songs, instruments, and listening games.
Reception starts the next phase, whilst revisiting some important practices from nursery, learning phonemes and graphemes, and developing reading and writing skills.
Year 1 continues this journey, providing children with the key skills to become confident and fluent readers.
In Year 2 and once children are secure in their phonics, we teach them the foundations to become confident in their spelling.
Alongside phonics lessons, children partake in group reading sessions 3 times a week. This builds their decoding skills, fluency, prosody and comprehension skills. Children will be expected to take home a decodable book each week that aligns with their phonics learning in class.
Reading
Once children have completed their learning through the Little Wandle phonics programme (usually in the Autumn term of Year 2), they will begin our bespoke Reciprocal Reading sessions. They work through a sequence of skills to support comprehension, including predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising. They share their thoughts as a class and comprehension is monitored through verbal conversions and carefully planned activities to complete in their reading journals.
Texts are carefully selected to promote a love and enjoyment of reading. We provide children with ‘mirrors and windows’ ensuring that the books they read not only reflect themselves, but open up doors to other cultures and the world around them.
Once a week, all children from EYFS to Year 6, attend our beautiful and well-resourced school library. They are encouraged to take a book home of their choosing. This session also allows teachers and peers to discuss their favourite genres and authors, recommending books to others and sharing stories.
All children will have a book to read at home. Whilst children are on the Little Wandle phonics programme, this book will be decodable. They will also take a ‘sharing’ book from the library. From Year 2, we expect children to chose an age appropriate and challenging book from our library or class book corner.
Handwriting
At Gledhow, we place a strong emphasis on the importance of neat, fluent handwriting and are proud of the presentation standards our pupils achieve. We follow the Letter-Join scheme, a comprehensive handwriting programme that supports progression from early mark-making through to fully joined, cursive writing.
Letter-Join provides a clear pathway from EYFS to Year 6 and fully aligns with the Early Years Framework and National Curriculum expectations. It helps our pupils to develop control, consistency and stamina in their writing, while also supporting the teaching of phonics, statutory spellings and grammar. Through regular, structured sessions, children learn to write with confidence, take pride in their work and communicate clearly through well-formed handwriting.
Writing
At Gledhow, we believe that writing should be meaningful, engaging and rooted in high-quality literature. We use the Literacy Tree curriculum, a carefully designed, book-based approach that immerses children in rich texts and diverse voices. This approach encourages children to write for real purposes and audiences, helping them to see themselves as authors and communicators.
Each writing unit is built around a core text and follows a clear sequence: reading and analysis, skill practice, planning, writing, editing and publishing. This structure enables pupils to develop both creativity and technical accuracy in their writing. The books chosen span a wide range of genres and cultures, encouraging empathy, curiosity and critical thinking.
Outcomes are varied and purposeful (from letters and narratives to non-fiction and poetry) and are always linked to the core text to ensure cohesion and depth. Grammar and vocabulary are taught in context, enabling children to apply skills in meaningful ways. Final pieces are celebrated and shared, giving children a sense of pride in their progress and achievement as writers.
Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar
At Gledhow, we view spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) as essential tools that help children express themselves clearly and accurately in their writing. These skills are embedded throughout our English curriculum and taught explicitly through engaging, purposeful activities.
In Year 1, spelling is closely linked to phonics and reinforced through reading and writing. From Year 2 onwards, we use Literacy Tree’s Spelling Seeds, which provide contextualised weekly sequences that link directly to the class text. This approach enables pupils to explore spelling patterns through investigation and meaningful application. Each unit provides opportunities for pupils to revisit key rules, practise in context and apply their learning within real writing tasks. Sessions also support the wider curriculum, offering links to subject-specific vocabulary and cross-curricular themes.
Punctuation and grammar are taught in context, closely linked to the text being studied. Pupils are supported to apply their learning in authentic ways during the writing process, with editing and publishing helping to reinforce accuracy and independence.