English
Reading
Intent:
We believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them; a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share in cultural experiences and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our reading curriculum strives to foster a lifelong love of reading. We cultivate the behaviours that they will need to be discerning readers as they read frequently and discuss what they read. This curriculum is delivered through synthetic phonics, a linked approach to shared and guided reading, home reading, reading across the curriculum, regular opportunities for independent reading and hearing quality texts read aloud every day. All of these are essential components as they offer the range of opportunities needed to develop fluent, enthusiastic and critical readers.
Implementation:
Discrete RWinc phonics lessons, taught daily in Key Stage 1.
1:1 interventions carried out according to need to target children with specific gaps in knowledge.
Daily readers are targeted to ensure regular practice, and opportunities to decode and consolidate sounds from Reception to Year 6. Assessment information and pupil premium eligibility is used to determine the frequency of 1:1 reading sessions.
Children are regularly benchmarked, ensuring reading books are closely aligned with pupils’ stage of learning to read.
Whole class texts are carefully chosen to be ambitious and contextually relevant to the school.
Daily whole class reading lessons develop vocabulary, comprehension, deductive reasoning and immersion with the class text and a range of other high quality texts.
All Talk 4 Writing units are planned using the whole class text to build an in-depth knowledge of this and its features, and include opportunities to develop oracy and exposure to high quality exemplar texts.
There is a whole school focus on developing a love of reading: book corners in every classroom and daily read aloud time built into class timetables.
Visits to the school’s purpose built library are timetabled so that all children can develop their own curiosity and exploration of what inspires a love of reading.
Reading at home during the school term and during school holidays is incentivised to promote engagement with reading outside of the classroom.
We involve parents, so they can become partners in their child’s reading journey through regular opportunities for in-school reading as well as parent workshops to support reading with their child at home.
Impact:
In the Early years and KS1, children’s progress in phonics is continually reviewed through daily informal and half termly formal phonic assessments and evidence from their reading and writing. Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.
Assessment for learning is used daily within class to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings, as well as identifying children needing additional 1:1 support.
Summative assessment is used three times a year to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan any additional support that they need.
In KS2, children’s reading is assessed using a variety of methods including Benchmarking and the completion of NFER and previous SATs papers. In addition, evidence from children’s responses during Guided Reading sessions and 1:1 reading with pupils is used to formatively assess children in order to identify gaps and plan subsequent lessons.
Writing
Intent:
We aspire for all children to be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing and reach their full potential. Through the application of our Talk 4 Writing curriculum, we aim to provide exciting writing opportunities and experiences that engage and inspire children. We want all children to acquire an ambitious vocabulary and to be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school. Children should also acquire a solid understanding of grammar so they can write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We believe that all children should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a legible, cursive, individual handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. Every child should have a good knowledge of phonics to form a firm foundation to become a fluent writer. We intend to provide a progressive curriculum to build upon previous teaching, with regular assessment opportunities to ensure each child’s needs are met, readying them for the next phase in their education.
Implementation:
Writing is taught daily, using the Talk 4 Writing (Pie Corbett) approach across the school to develop children’s writing and knowledge of different genres. During a three week block, children learn to imitate, innovate and invent using a high quality model text.
Children have regular opportunities to engage in oral retelling of high quality texts.
High-quality texts, linked to the model text in English, are interwoven into guided reading sessions to further inspire ideas for children’s writing.
Regular opportunities for shared writing allow the exploration of the features of different text types and modelled examples.
Throughout the T4W process, children will acquire and learn the skills to plan, draft and refine their written work over time and are encouraged to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing.
Children have their own writing mat resource on which personalised targets are set for each pupil and reviewed regularly. These are shared with pupils who are encouraged to take ownership of their learning and areas for development.
A whole school progression map clearly ensures that a variety of genres are progressively taught and built upon both throughout the year and throughout the school.
The coverage of spelling, punctuation and grammar are mapped across the whole school to allow for sequenced lessons, they ensure that prior learning is checked and built upon and that National Curriculum objectives are taught.
Impact:
Teachers use assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning process and link it clearly to the children’s next steps. Writing criteria are used to assess children’s writing against National Curriculum objectives, which again ensures progression across the school. This includes developing a secure knowledge of punctuation and grammar and ensuring children are equipped to apply these within their writing. Effective feedback marking with actionable ‘next steps’ and ‘modelling’, where appropriate, ensure that children know exactly what they need to do next to make progress in their writing. Children complete a termly ‘Big Write’, as further evidence that they have successfully acquired the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a purpose and audience.