English

Phonics:

We use the Read, Write Inc scheme to deliver phonics to our children. Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Reading:

We are passionate about developing reading for pleasure. We plan lots of exciting activities to engage our children with reading. In addition to this we also run reading challenges where the children can work towards their Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Awards. Our school hall is open from 8:30am every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for children in Years 2-6 to come in and read. In addition to this Mrs Kidd’s library is open most play times.

Our EYFS/KS1 children use Read, Write Inc books, Rigby Rocket and Rigby Star as our main reading schemes but these are also supplemented by other reading books.

Our Key Stage 2 children use Oxford Reading Tree and Pearson Bug Club as our main reading schemes but these are also supplemented by other reading books.

Writing:

We use 'Talk for Writing' to develop our children's writing skills. This is an engaging teaching framework developed by Pie Corbett, supported by Julia Strong. It is powerful because it is based on the principles of how children learn. It enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version.

We have a large focus on the children understanding the skills of a good writer and the children understanding how to edit their work.