For Headteachers
Welcome Headteachers!
Please take a look at the video to your right where one Little Wandle Champion School Headteacher describes how reading is prioritised in his school.
Our Champion Schools host half-day Little Wandle Live events for other member schools to see best practice in action and share what’s working well in their schools. These events are included in your membership.
Take me to Little Wandle Live events.
Initial training and ongoing CPD
- Whole-school initial training modules.
- Foundations, Fluency and Spelling training modules.
- Leadership recorded webinars.
- Preparing for Ofsted recorded webinars.
Key documents
- Leadership.
- Core programme and Rapid Catch-up.
- Year 2: Little Wandle Fluency and Spelling.
- Little Wandle Foundations.
- SEND programme.
Monitoring
- Core programme.
- Foundations.
- SEND.
Assessment and pupils not on track
- Assessment guidance
- Daily Keep-up flowcharts
- Daily Keep-up editable overview
Half-termly organiser 2024-25
Staff, training and ongoing CPD
Priorities for this half-term …
- Plan training for all staff using the BIG Little Wandle INSET.
- Review staff attendance at Little Wandle CPD sessions.
- Book onto the Leading Little Wandle effectively webinar on 9th October.
- Include phonics and early reading on the School Improvement Plan (SIP)/School Development Plan (SDP).
- Create appraisal targets for the Reading Leader to reflect the school focus from the SIP/SDP.
- Ensure succession planning for the Reading Leader is in place (for example, consider shadowing).
- Arrange training for governors or share the Little Wandle programme overview Reception and Year 1 progression in a governors’ meeting.
- Update staff timetables for reading practice sessions, Daily Keep-up and Rapid Catch-up. Work with the Reading Leader to deploy staff to teach these sessions with protected time.
Assessment
Make sure you …
- Plan weekly release time for the Reading Leader, plus additional half-termly release to carry out assessments and data review.
- Timetable data reviews with the Reading Leader for each half-term and plan Autumn 2 CPD according to outcomes.
- Review the practice map with the Reading Leader.
- Ensure phonics teaching in Reception starts immediately.
- Ensure Daily Keep-up starts immediately.
- Observe any new reading teachers to ensure consistent use of planning and fidelity to the programme.
Children not on track
Make sure you …
- Review the Autumn 1 data with the Reading Leader.
- Do NOT allow Year 1 to move on to Phase 5 if Phases 3 and 4 are not secure.
- Compare data between classes (in schools with two-form entry or higher).
- Timetable Daily Keep-up and Rapid Catch-up and ensure staff time for these sessions is protected.
- Review registers for Daily Keep-up and Rapid Catch-up.
- Request analysis of children who are red on the heatmaps: context, progress and next steps.
Budget and resources
Priorities for this half-term …
(especially if your financial year starts in September)
Engaging parents
Involve families in their child’s learning …
- Arrange classroom visits for parents and carers to observe phonics lessons.
- Organise phonics workshops for Reception and Year 1 parents as well as for parents of children doing Rapid Catch-up. Find all the presentations and handouts in the Engaging parents section.
- Add parent workshops to the school calendar and any parent-facing communications.
Love of reading
Make sure you …
- Timetable daily protected read-aloud time across the school.
- Provide staff with clear expectations for your school’s Reading for Pleasure (RfP) pedagogy
- Timetable library visits for all classes (in school and external if available).
- Get your staff to know the Everybody read! resources on the website.
- Ensure staff do the BIG Little Wandle INSET ‘Raring to read’ training.
Staff, training and ongoing CPD
Priorities for this half-term …
- Observe with the Reading Leader all staff teaching phonics lessons and reading practice sessions.
- Book time to review your Reception/Year 1 Autumn 1 assessment data with your Reading Leader.
- Use the outcome of your review to plan coaching sessions and online CPD.
- Ensure all Year 2 staff are fully trained in the Spelling programme.
- Ensure all KS2 staff have completed the Big Little Wandle INSET ‘Back to basics’ session.
- Book onto ‘Preparing for an Ofsted Deep Dive’ webinar on 26th November.
- Ensure that the three reads and Daily Keep-up are happening every week. If you are in a school with limited adults, read the blog ‘Creative timetabling: Reading practice and Daily Keep-up’.
Assessment
Make sure you …
- Watch the recorded webinar ‘Doing even more with your data’ and read the blog ‘Leaders: Do more with your data!’
- Include data in your report to Governors.
- Ensure that:
- In Reception/Year 1, everything is in place for the Autumn 2 assessments.
- All children having Daily Keep-up are being assessed every three weeks and each set of data is uploaded to the Assessment tracker.
- In Year 2, teachers are using the Phase 5 review assessment to identify gaps, then reteaching gaps before moving on to Bridge to spelling.
- Children following Rapid Catch-up are being assessed every four weeks and all new data is added to the Rapid Catch-up assessment spreadsheet.
Children not on track
Make sure you …
Reception/Year 1
- Review all Autumn 1 data with the Reading Leader and make plans for every child who is not keeping up.
- Who is struggling in Reception?
- Who was on track in Reception and is now struggling in Year 1? What is in place for them?
- Ensure that all interventions are happening.
Year 2
- Track the progress of any child who did not pass the Phonics Screening Check or who has any red or amber assessments in Year 1.
- Read the blog ‘Supporting children with larger gaps in Year 2’. Make sure there is a plan in place to get these children back on track.
- Review the Year 2 data with the Reading Leader to identify which children are ready to access the Fluency programme.
Budget and resources
Priorities for this half-term …
- Review the Reading for Pleasure books across the school, assess their relevance and decide if any new books need to be purchased.
- Read the blog ‘Balancing the books’ for tips on securing funding.
Engaging parents
Involve families in their child’s learning …
- Arrange classroom visits to observe phonics lessons/group reading lessons.
- Organise family workshops for Reception, Year 1 and Rapid Catch-up, if not already delivered in Autumn 1.
- Ensure up-to-date phonics data is shared with families (particularly those of the lowest-attaining 20%).
- Include details of engagement with families in your report to Governors.
Love of reading
Make sure you …
- Monitor protected read-aloud time across school.
- Make the most of your library. Ensure timetabled library visits for all classes are taking place. Read the blog ‘Love your library’ to find out how to transform your library on a budget.
- Review Reading for Pleasure books in use across the school. Keep your book offer fresh and relevant. Explore the book recommendations in Everybody read!
The Spring 1 organiser will be uploaded soon.
The Spring 2 organiser will be uploaded soon.
The Summer 1 organiser will be uploaded soon.
The Summer 2 organiser will be uploaded soon.
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