Teachers: RWI vs Little Wandle

[SophieSkye]

I’m a parent who has visited many primary schools before applying for a reception place for Sept ‘26. For teachers who have taught both schemes, are the results/enjoyment comparable? Is one scheme better adapted for more/less academic pupils than the other?

I’ve been impressed by seeing the RWI phonics scheme being taught in small groups, and like the idea of a child being able to be moved up (and down?) a group according to their progress.

I’ve also seen and been unimpressed with seeing the Little Wandle phonics system being taught. The whole-class method left 3/5 tables (those not with the teacher or TA) of pupils ‘reading independently’/unattended/staring into space. Also, as I understand it, pupils read the same book 3 times?

TIA for your thoughts.

My son does little wandle and has gone from not being interested in August to loving phonics and starting to read. It’s in the teaching not the system.

Reading the books a few times builds more automacity and word recognition - he can read more fluently by the third time and is starting to pick up the same words in future books as well so they’re easier he can concentrate on new ones.

id be looking for reading at do the read a lot in school, quality of teacher read books and library usage as well

Not sure I’d base a school choice on their phonics scheme either but if you are I think from what I know wandle is quite fast, in terms of sounds covered? There are flashcards linked which we have at home to make games out of too

My school does LW though I'm not in infants. All our groups have an adult. I think reading a book 3 times in class is good but they also bring the same book home. I'd have hated it for my own children who aren't reading whizzes by any means but keen children interested in stories. They'd have been bored stiff reading the same book a total of 7 or so times.

Having taught in schools that used both I prefer RWI but truthfully it would be so far down my list of reasons to choose a school compared to other key factors such as distance, wrap around provision, staff turn over, whether it was part of an academy trust, ethos etc.

Thanks for your opinions so far. Of course I’m taking other factors into consideration when choosing a school. It’s just the contrast in engagement which I witnessed between groups using the 2 schemes was marked. I would be sad to knowingly sign up my child to a place/scheme where they might well be bored/not stretched. Yet I’ve visited schools where great results were achieved at the phonics check level with LW. Maybe the results are just due to other factors? Hence my query!

DD is in y1 with Little Wandle and has absolutely flown. She has had fantastic teachers and TAs, though, and they have really taken to encouraging a wide range of materials (in addition to phonics) for those who are ahead.

Most of the phonics schemes are very prescriptive, and it's very much down to the teaching as to whether they enjoy it. Once they get to a certain point, we read the books once or twice and then check understanding before moving on to more interesting ones. Anything to keep up an interest in reading!

In y1, they definitely are in smaller groups at DD's school, withkids at the same level (the 2 classes are mixed for this).

They only really do phonics for a short time in their primary career (as uphill as it may seem in the first weeks of reception) so I wouldn't choose by phonics scheme. The rest of it matters more- fit, culture, teaching, facilities etc

I work in a school and honestly this isn't something I'd base my school choice on. Each method is effective if it's executed properly and taught well. RWI we also read the book 3 times.

I'd say the actual school, teaching team, number of TAs, wrap around provision, extra curriculum provision, results and feel are far more important than the phonics scheme.

OP I think you are me. I’m also a teacher, phonics is my thing but we use a different scheme and I supplement. I saw 4 schools for my daughter’s Sept 26 start, split evenly with RWI and LW. I’m also worried she’ll get bored. She’s very young for the year, but her phonemic awareness is really good and her nursery are already introducing phonics. I figured I’ll just have to give her options and keep her engaged with books at home.

im going for a rwi school as fist choice.

I don't think the scheme is what makes children engaged or not in the reading. It's about how it's taught, regardless of the scheme.

I also doubt you'll find any school where a child only reads a book once at that age.

FWIW my kids have got on great with LW, but I'm certain they'd have had identical results with any other scheme.

A good teacher will be able to stretch them even in a constrained setting.

There was a girl in DD's class who was already a fluent reader when she started, and the reception teacher was brilliant at stretching her within the constraints they had. Her parents has similar worries, but we're delighted how it was handled.

My daughter will definitely not be a fluent reader, I’m just seeing that she’ll pick it up quickly.

the problem is that not all teachers are experienced or knowledgable when it comes to keeping engagement when the phonics schemes are so prescriptive. I don’t intend to ‘stretch her’ in just conscious I may need to suppprt her engagement with reading while she is learning phonics (I work in an excellent non selective prep)

I wouldn't choose a school based on their phonics scheme. Personally, I'm not a fan of RWI, as a Reception teacher, but I would send my child to a school who taught it if I liked everything else about them. I really dislike grouping for phonics. It's fine for the highers, but they can also be stretched whole class. Groups aren't ideal for those who struggle at the start of Reception though, as it keeps them progressing slower than their peers. Many children just take a while to click. It doesn't mean they are low ability, but teaching them in groups means they can then struggle to close the gap on their peers and become pigeon holed as 'low'.

I prefer whole class teaching, with interventions for those who need it to help them catch up. It's important for them to be exposed to the same learning as the rest. Lots of children store up that knowledge for when they're ready, through osmosis. If they're not taught the same phonemes as their peers, they'll always be behind with little scope to move up (otherwise they'll have gaps in their knowledge).

I've no experience of Little Wandle. Personally I don't like the sound of a round robin where children are left to their own devices on certain tasks. Our scheme's whole class approach is just that, everyone on the carpet together. Reading, word building and writing are all done together in 20 minutes (with extensions or scaffold for different children as appropriate). Then afternoon interventions for those who need a boost.

As I said though, I wouldn't base my choice of school on it. There's far more to schools than phonics (and schools can and do change schemes). I'm surprised so many schools around you run tours during phonics to be honest. We always do them when the children are in continuous provision ("choosing") so as not to distract them during carpet time. I also think it's nicer for the parents to see and get a feel for how the classroom runs.

I'd say engagement with any scheme is down to the teaching, rather than the scheme. An effective teacher will try to make any scheme work for their class. A poor teacher can struggle to engage the children with any scheme.

If you weren't happy with the LW teaching you witnessed, it probably says more about the school than the scheme to be honest.

Most phonics schemes are dull as dishwasher, to be fair. Engaging the children in one is a skill in itself.

I'm not a teacher, but have experienced both as a parent. There's not that much in it tbh, they both ultimately learn much the same sounds, in very similar ways at similar times. I have a personal preference for the RWI flashcards and the LW books. If I had to pick one, I'd probably go for RWI as they learn slightly more useful sounds slightly quicker, but like most people, I think that determining school choice based on programme used is a bit strange. The vast majority of the effectiveness is due to the quality of the teaching, regularity of reading practice and how good the school are at changing books every week.

I do day to day supply teaching, so I visit a lot of schools. It is not the scheme itself that matters, but how it is taught/applied. Every school manages it differently, depending on resources available. Making sufficient, trained adults available to read the book with each group of 6 is a stretch for many schools with falling roll and increasingly tight budgets.

The reading three times is to focus on different reading skills: decoding (being able to break the word down into its 'sounds' and blend them to read the word), prosedy (fluency) and comprehension (understanding what's been read). This needs to be done with an adult; paired reading isn't going to produce the same results. Ask how the school applies the scheme and adult to child ratios for reading, also phonics catch up groups for those that take a bit longer to grasp the concepts/graphemes. Be particularly careful of large multi academy trusts; I have been to one where phonics is taught through a centralised video and it was far from engaging.

Both my kids schools use Little Wandle and as a parent I don’t really rate it (or I could have just been the school was crap).

For DD a whole class approach was a disaster. In Reception she had glue ear so her school was advised by a teacher of the Deaf that she should be taken out of the classroom and taught phonics in a small group. School didn’t do this and DD just about completed phase 2 by the end of Reception. DD had grommets inserted and goes into Y1. I speak to the teacher and ask will my DD be given help to catch up as she doesn’t know phase 3 and phase 4. I’m told phase 5 is taught in the autumn term of Y1 so no she won’t be taught phase 3/4 and she is not taken out of class to have have any catch up sessions. DD starts Y2 and her teacher comments that she doesn’t know phase 3 and 4! DD is sent to Y1 for phonics (where they go over phase 5 again!)

At the start of Y4 I manage to move my DD to another school and they immediately put her in a rapid catch up group when she is take out of the classroom for small group phonics everyday. In 8/9 weeks her reading age has gone up by 8 months.

So sorry your DD’s old school were unable to tailor their teaching to your DD’s circumstances. This is my fear with a whole-class approach; discounting unknowable variables (i.e ability of teacher to adapt/ignite interest). Hope her reading and comprehension continue to take off!

But that was the school, rather than Little Wandle. We use Little Wandle, the children are assessed every six weeks and we group children according to the results of the assessments. Yes, most children start reception together as, even those who can identify some sounds, don’t always blend or use them in writing. By Autumn 2, we are running additional phonics interventions for those Reception children falling behind, we have SEN phonics groups for those with significant difficulties and rapid catch up for those in year 1 and above, we have some mixed age groups depending on the abilities of the children. But, because of the additional phonics groups and support groups, the majority of the children can progress together. We also have around 92% meeting the standard at the end of Year 1.

Thanks for your thoughts. Your point re adult-led learning vs paired reading was particularly interesting. This was my worry about LW; it seemed to rely a lot on independent/paired/whole-table work while the teacher/TA worked their way around the classroom.

Thanks for these details. It is good to know some schools adapt LW to make sure (almost) all levels end up meeting the standard by the end of Y1. I suppose my interest in phonics schemes is related to the motivation of schools I’ve spoken with to stretch their pupils. I did a lot of coasting in government schools and I’m keen not to let my DC get away with this!

Point taken re most phonics schemes being as full as dishwater 😅! What I saw in visits was RWI being taught in small groups, with more back-and-forth interaction between adult and children … hence less opportunity for my DC to switch off/get away with being distracted. Conversely I saw three-fifths of 2 classes using LW left to their own devices.

I guess many schools run their phonics classes mid-morning during peak productivity, which was when most of the school tours were scheduled (after morning school run)! I would assume all pupils would eventually cover the same ground even if grouped by recent performance. My concern would be whether my DC would be stretched enough (assuming a standard teacher). Tbf, it’s not that RWI’s small group work would definitely ensure this, it just seems more likely and less teacher-quality-reliant. Teacher-quality being something that was hard to assess during a quick school tour.

Yes apparently 40% of children will grasp the concepts of phonics regardless of the way they are taught to read. I’m just keen to try and discern any nuances between the 2 phonics systems as, imho, the quicker my DC can learn to read, the quicker they can start teaching themselves instead of just relying on my input!

Thanks for your thoughts! Nice you were happy with a school who use RWI for your first choice. My dilemma is that there is one school I really do like who use LW but I wonder if my DC would too easily be allowed to coast (I’m figuring a whole-class approach like in LW would make coasting easier). DC has already be learning phonics since Autumn 1 in pre-school/nursery so I wouldn’t want to lose that progress when transitioning to Reception.