Little Wandle review by B

Date: 12.04.2022

Review subject: Phonics

Phase: Primary

Reviewer: B, Teacher

School profile:

LA maintained school 406 pupils in Birmingham
Ofsted rating: Good
FSM: 40%

Overall rating:

It sticks to reading. It’s view is that music, songs etc are just cognitive overload and that those creative elements are fine for other curriculum areas- just not this one. I’ve been using it for a short space of time and am really noticing a difference in what my class can read.

How well does it match the curriculum?

Well: It covers the curriculum as well as we expected

There are a greater number of words read - it gives you the words to read rather than having to think of your own and it has great progression in the words read too.

How well does it support your school’s inclusion/diversity/equal opportunities policy?

Well: The content is inclusive and sensitively presented

The idea is that all children stay for a session as that way they don’t miss out seeing any learning. Then they have catch up sessions in the afternoon. They also talk about extra phonic sessions to get children to where they aught to be. It’s a much better way than keeping children back in TA led groups.

How well does it support differentiation for the full range of the classes you use it with?

Well: A large majority of resources are suitably differentiated for pupils

All children follow the same learning within the lesson and it recommends any TA support is used to keep any LA on focus- perhaps using their own set of cards to read at the same as the whole class- but these children still sit in the whole class lesson. Then, you use keep up groups at other times in the day, every day to teach the gaps in learning. This works, so far, really well. As part of the lesson, there is so much word reading that struggling children have a lot of practice and when you extend this over a half term they are really practicing the same skills for enormous amounts of time.

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Well: Pupils generally enjoy using it and tend to welcome doing so

Some of my higher ability children are losing interest- this is because we are going back over reception learning as their are so many gaps across the class. However, the idea is that you ask individuals to read words throughout the lesson as well as the whole class reading together, so if I think anyone is losing interest I choose them to read the next word- to keep them focused. Also, it gives all children an enormous sense of reading success as the words they read are repeated in the lesson and then over weeks.

How well supported is it by accompanying formative assessments?

Well: We use it for monitoring individual pupil progress

The idea behind formative assessments is that you take note of how well individuals are doing within each session. Over only a couple of weeks it becomes really clear who the strugglers are and aren’t able to keep pace and those that are maintaining pace with learning.

How well does it support planning?

Well: It’s fairly self-contained and can be used with minimal preparation

Every session is planned for and word card resources can be bought alongside.

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Well: Pupils could be expected to use this at home or independently, with a minimum amount of support or additional resources

I think there may be online books but we haven’t got into these yet.

How would you rate it for value for money compared to similar resources?

Don’t know.

Would you recommend it to a colleague in a similar school to yours?

11/11

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