--- title: "Reception Class - Phonics - Guided Reading" url: "https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/2025-09-18-reception-class-phonics-guided-reading" school: "Darwen St James’ C of E Primary Academy" --- # Reception Class - Phonics - Guided Reading ![](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/images/news/cce4ed36-d546-406d-b20f-e4b227cf5fe7.jpg) 18 September 2025 ### The Great Phonics Adventure Has Begun! ???? We're so excited to share that our Reception children have officially started their phonics journey, and they're already doing an incredible job! We're building the foundation for reading and writing, and the children have embraced every step with enthusiasm. This week, we've been exploring the story **'A Wet Walk'**. The children have absolutely loved: - **Looking at the pictures** and talking about what they can see. - **Discussing the characters** and the journey they take. - **Practising their oral blending skills**, which is a crucial first step in reading. It's wonderful to see them building confidence as they sound out words and put them together. The focus has been on listening to the sounds and blending them to hear the whole word. This skill is a super important building block for their future reading success. We're so proud of their hard work and can't wait to see their reading skills blossom! Keep up the amazing work, Reception! ✨ [Reception](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/tag/reception) [Early Years Foundation Stage](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/tag/early-years-foundation-stage) [Phonics](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/tag/phonics) [![](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/imagecache/100x100c/news/c6aff556-4a5c-4463-b8ca-2c101743b01a.jpg)](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/2025-09-17-nursery-literacy-fine-motor-skills-threading) Previous ### [Nursery - Literacy - Fine Motor Skills - Threading](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/2025-09-17-nursery-literacy-fine-motor-skills-threading) [![](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/imagecache/100x100c/news/Collage_2025-09-22_09_49_31.jpg)](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/2025-09-22-year-6-maths-understanding-common-factors) Next ### [Year 6: Maths - Understanding Common Factors](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news/2025-09-22-year-6-maths-understanding-common-factors) ### Academy Life - [News](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/news) - [Events](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/events) - [Clubs](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/academy-life/basc) - [School Council](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/academy-life/school-council) - [Attendance](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/academy-life/attendance) - [Charities and Fundrasing](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/academy-life/charities-and-fundraising) - ![School Games Gold](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/images/partners/Gold_Logo_25-26(1).png) - ![Healthy school](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/images/partners/healthy_school.png) - ![Picture News](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/images/partners/6_Years_of_Picture_News.png) - ![AP smilestar](https://files.schudio.com/darwen-st-james-c-of-e-primary-academy/images/partners/Screenshot_2026-07-27_10.26.27.png) ##### Location St James Crescent Darwen Lancashire BB3 0EY ##### Contact Us 01254 703260 ##### Stay Connected - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Darwenstjames) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/darwenstjames/) © Copyright 2021–2026 Darwen St James’ C of E Primary Academy School & Trust Websites by [ ![Schudio logo](https://darwenstjames.co.uk/img/logo/light.png) ](https://www.schudio.com/)