We follow the content of the English National Curriculum as detailed in the links below.
English National Curriculum 2014
English_Appendix_2_-_Vocabulary_grammar_and_punctuation
Reading
When children are first starting to read, they progress through our early reading scheme called ‘Phonic Bug Club’. These books help the children to secure the initial phonics that they need to be able to tackle harder words that they will come across later on. There are e-books and activities that children can access at home using their username and password. Once they reach phase 5 in phonics (mid Year 1 for most children), they can then choose a book from our wider reading scheme to read alongside their ‘Bug Club’ book. Our wider reading scheme contains a range of books that are grouped into colour bands according to the level of difficulty. Children progress through these colour bands. The class teacher will decide, based on their assessments, how long a child needs to spend on the colour band before moving upto the next band.
We aim for children to develop a love of reading and the pleasure that it brings. We have a well-stocked library and children can choose books from here as well as their ‘book band’ book. Classes in Reception and Key Stage 1 have story time each day. Year 2 and Key Stage 2 have a longer class book which is sometimes read aloud to the children and they have opportunities to read parts independently. This may provide the context of learning in English lessons and in other curriculum areas too.
Writing
Throughout our school, from Playgroup to Upper Key Stage 2, we are developing our writing skills through an approach called “Talk For Writing.”
Talk for Writing is an approach to teaching writing that emphasizes three teaching methods: ‘imitation’ (where pupils learn texts by heart, so they can discuss and dissect them), ‘innovation’ (where pupils adapt stories to create their own versions), and ‘invention’ (where teachers help pupils to create original stories). These tasks aim to improve writing ability by giving pupils an understanding of the structure and elements of written language.
We believe that Talk for Writing allows a consistent approach to the teaching of writing, and is extremely beneficial to help develop oral language skills in children, which then leads to improved writing.
This year we are also focusing on training children to edit and improve their own work as they write, as this is a vital skill in improving the quality of written work
