Little wandle

[Newuser75]

Does anyone have any experience of the little wandle scheme?

My 4 year old has just started reception and this is the phonics scheme the school are using.

My child is doing well with reading and can read songbirds level 6 pretty fluently without sounding out many words.

They know all the sounds for the alphabet and most of the sounds such as ure, air, ai, ea, a-e etc

They are bringing home books with words in such as pat, sit, pit etc but can read words such as children, western etc with no sounding out and can read words such as collection with sounding out.

All the kids seem to be on the same book. Do they move at the same rate? If so what is the reason for this as surely it holds back the kids who are already reading?

Just read whatever they send home, and supplement that with other books from home. At the next parents evening you can ask about how the children progress up the scheme. I think every child has to read every book to make sure they are consistent able across the various sounds/combinations presented in each book and avoid gaps in their knowledge.

Thank you. Yes that's what we have been doing. It just seems silly to keep kids back when they could be progressing. I'm
Just curious as to why this happens.

Yes, the whole class will be learning the same sound's together & reading the same books.
My DS knew a lot of the phonic sounds when he started but Little Wandle was different to what he'd learned so had to unlearn & relearn.
He's now in Yr1 & progressing well.
Do the books sent home & read lots of other stuff with your DC at home.

Little Wandle/Soundswrite etc are whole class.

If a school uses Read Write Inc. then they set groups each term by assessment so children will learn the sounds they don’t know and get books to match.

Maybe look at it like they are reinforcing all his phonics knowledge. You keep reading the books that he enjoys at home and they can keep reinforcing phonics in school with his spelling and writing.

What have the school said when you spoke to them about holding your DC back ?

Im sure there was a very, very similar thread not that long ago, that decended more into a discussion about phonics than little wandle 🤣

The teacher can’t differentiate phonics teaching for every child - they usually learn as a whole class and the teacher will, quite rightly, focus on those who are behind (to try and bring them up to the required standards) rather than those who are ahead.
You need to be realistic about how much time a teacher has (not much!). Most of their time will be devoted to controlling problematic behaviours.

We use LW at my school. They all learn at the same pace but there is intervention support for those that fall behind. There won't be a separate pathway for the children who are already reading (unless a large school with the possibility of having ability groups). However, I've always found that even for the capable readers, the phonics sessions are useful for spelling so he will be getting something out of it. Read the school book, just so you can be sure he has understood the phonics structure but get him other books to read from the library.

DS2's school started this when he was in Y1. He ended up repeating some phonics but they were all put in reading groups and some moved up levels quicker than others.
I was incredibly sceptical as DS was already reading well after reception but by the end of Y1 his reading and phonics were so much more secure than his older brother. School moves them into orange + colour bands in Y2 and then accelerated reader in KS2 if they are ready. In Y3 they have 3 different reading schemes.
We just read the school book but also did home books and put a lot of focus on the reading style and expression which helps with comprehension as they get older.

I do not know anyone who has anything good to say about LW.

In my experience, children who are picking things up more quickly/can already read, get put off reading by it because they get bored and aren't learning anything.

Those children who struggle with reading just learn to recite things rather than read them because of all the repetition of the same text.

Is it the case in all schools using this scheme that the children read the same book every day for a week in school and then they read the same one every day for a week at home? Or was that just our school?

I tried to supplement with other books at home but my child was so put off the whole idea of reading that it became a huge feat to get them to look at a book when previously they loved nothing better than sharing books together.

It's all the schemes that are DfE approved. New guidelines. Teachers are well able to adapt but are required to be very rigid with schemes now.

Thanks.

We are reading other books at home with him. He is already saying the school books are boring.

We haven't mentioned anything to the school yet and there doesn't seem much point if they need to stick rigidly to the scheme.

Was just after any details about it to try to understand why they do it like this.

They do it like this as they have to. However it also depends on the school's set up. We set across KS1 with assessments every six weeks. The majority work quite happily through the scheme at the same pace, those that are struggling work at a slower pace but have daily catch up sessions to accelerate them as much as possible, those working above can move into a " higher" group. But they have to be able to read AND write ALL of the sounds in a phase before moving up a group.

I could have written your post! DD is in Year 1 now and I hoped that might be the point and which they'd let the kids work at their own level, but they're still "progressing" as a class.

We read the Little Wandle week once at home for the sake of her reading journal and spend the rest of the time reading books that match her ability.

That was full of typos, sorry - not had any caffeine yet today!

Thanks. It seems a bit frustrating doesn't it?

This is not unique to little wandle. My daughter school uses floppy’s phonics and I have the same issue. I started a similar thread a while back. All phonics schemes have to be DFE approved and all have children only reading books covering sounds they’ve learned in school, completely ignoring any prior attainment and treating them as one homogenous group. My daughter is still bringing home wordless books after half a term as they haven’t taught enough sounds yet to introduce even the simplest books.

I don’t get it. At all. If they just came out with it and said ‘we don’t have the staffing or resources to differentiate’ I’d actually be ok with that, but it is sold as if it is beneficial to be held back. (I appreciate the school is simply following the guidance, it’s the guidance I don’t get!)

My DS is bringing home books without words. At home he reads picture books he chooses from the library like Julia Donaldson and similar. He can decode many words and names he doesn't know. He is reluctant to look at the school books, I don't know whether to leave them until they get more interesting.

@modgepodge no, it just doesn't make any sense to me either.

I forgot to mention that my DS's school uses Little Wandle as well. I don't understand what will happen now, will he keep bringing home books he could have read in nursery, always well below his reading ability as it inevitably improves? A friend's child is in year 1 and a good reader and they are reading picture books at a similar level. My DS reads with more expression and fluency but the older child has more stamina with easy chapter books. I direct DS away from these as he is only 4.

Have you ever mentioned anything to the teachers? I haven't yet as was waiting to see how things go.

Not yet. I thought it would be obvious that he can read, he reads everything including signs and notices aloud. I have been writing in the reading journal that he has read school library books to me. I don't want to seem like that parent, he hasn't been hothoused, he just loves books and reading.

I am happy with DS learning phonics with the class as he needs to learn to write and spell. I just don't understand how the reading works, I thought he would read in groups with other children who are also reading and bring home books more like what he has been reading at home.

@Pipistrellus yes mine is the same.

I thought they would be in groups by ability but that doesn't seem to be the case either.

I was writing in his reading diary which books he was reading at home but they haven't mentioned anything yet.