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?

I’ve been impressed with LW so far. It seems to give them a very solid foundation as they progress. We have extra books at home that we read together but I’m happy for my daughter to read easier books through school as I can see other benefits.

They are at our school, but as the whole class has to progress at the same rate, I don't think it makes much difference anyway. When I pointed out the gap between DD's school books and what she's doing at home at Year R parents evening, their response was to assure me that she's in a reading group with children of the same ability. Yes, and they're being held back by this policy too!

If they are ability grouped at some schools then does that mean the school has assessed them until they begin showing difficulty, to know their actual level?

Our school is a 3 form entry and they split the children into 3 ability levels for their Read Write Inc lessons. I've actually been quite impressed that my DD has come home with proper reading books. They're probably a bit below her actual ability (I was told in a phonics workshop that they can't send home books which contain phonics that they haven't covered at school) but they're OK. The school is also differentiating within the ability groups (her table has different books from the rest of her group).
The Little Wandle scheme sounds awful to me. I just cannot understand how the children who can already read aren't being held back. I am going to say though that I do think it's important that writing levels improve as well as the reading, so I think that sometimes the reading books can maybe seem easier while the writing is catching up?

Having taught both schemes they are very different. RWI groups by ability and everything is taught according to level. In Little Wandle it is whole class teaching. There is a lot of pressure to show 'fidelity' to the scheme. We did differentiate with our SEN with Little a Wandle and made a separate group for them. The rest had to be in the class setting. Reading is taught separately and the children were grouped for that. We moved some through quite quickly and were criticised for that. Once they get through phase 5 sounds they can be on to the main book band system. We assessed every 5 weeks as part of the scheme but the assessments is only the sounds from that time. You can ask for an additional assessment that matches their decoding to reading but not their understanding.

Just to put it into perspective the Little Wandle scheme involves a half an hour daily phonics lesson, catch up sessions for those struggling which is 10 minutes 1-1 or group if same needs. Then three times a week a reading session for up to six groups which takes 20 minutes each group. Even if there are two adults in the classroom it takes a lot of time to do.

I actually like the reading sessions and feel the children can and do make progress when reading at the right level. It was a huge undertaking though.