English

At St Mary’s we are committed to raising standards in English and follow the National Curriculum in order maintain accurate coverage across the school.

Our curriculum is focused around high quality fiction and non-fiction texts which gives the children opportunities to enjoy a range of different genres as well as use the text to develop their own writing and reading skills. Some of the approaches we use to help develop children’s reading skills, reading stamina and love of reading are:

Phonics

Synthetic phonics is taught through the Letters and Sounds programme from Nursery to Year 2.

Reading Recovery

We employ a specialist teacher to run the programme which is an early intervention programme of study aimed at supporting children to achieve National Expectations.

Daily Supported reading

This programme provides children in KS1 with a daily reading

Lesson led by teachers, support staff and volunteers from the community. When we teach the aims are: to develop children’s independence for reading, develop the use of richer language to secure meaning and to stimulate thought.

Shared reading

Opportunities are provided through weekly English planning for children and teachers to read and respond to a shared text.

Guided reading

Guided reading takes place in year 1-6 5 times per week. All children read with an adult at least once a week. We use clear planning and tracking which ensures that targets are set which are linked directly to the child’s progression.

Children in year 1 move into Guided reading when teachers feel they are ready.

Home reading

In order to further enrich their reading experiences, children take books home every day to read with an adult and to talk about its content. Books are changed regularly at school in order to build up the range of books read.

Our English curriculum places a strong emphasis on writing to ensure all children develop the necessary skills to become fluent, imaginative, independent writers. Within the English daily lesson the teachers ensure that they teach a range of writing skills including spelling, grammar, punctuation and the key features of different types of writing. To develop writing the following approaches are used:

Modelled writing

When teaching writing, teachers model skills, processes and procedures for writing. Modelling incorporates a range of important writing skills such as planning, editing and proofreading, spelling, sentence structure and developing ideas.

Shared Writing

Through shared writing sessions teachers work with a whole group to write, scaffold and discuss writing together.

Guided writing

Guided writing is used to scaffold and support children of similar needs in a group. The teacher works with the group to guide and support them through the writing process while giving them explicit instructions and feedback. The teacher is able to extend and challenge children during this session. This enables children to compose their own writing, learn about what makes effective writing as well as building writing confidence.

Grammar

Using high-quality texts, Children in Year 1- 6 are taught grammar during English lessons. This teaching is reinforced through writing sessions.

Extended writing

Through our weekly extended writing session children are given the opportunity to produce longer pieces of writing based around a topic or theme they have been studying. The aim during these sessions is for children to incorporate skills learnt through modelled, shared and guided writing to produce an extended piece of detailed writing.

Early Years Foundation Stage

Children in our Nursery and Reception classes develop their handwriting skills through an interlinking curriculum centred around a combination of adult guided activities and structured play. Getting the balance right between child initiated play, which is controlled, and adult led activities is very important to us.

It is important to note that, in the Early Years, it is imperative that we reflect the essential links between the four aspects of literacy development. These are: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Early Years environments, both indoors and out, should display many links to literacy, reflecting its status and importance across all areas of learning.

Adults in our Nursery and Reception classes plan carefully to ensure that their environments are literacy-rich and include print in the form of letters and words. There are lots of opportunities for the children to read independently and also for adults to read with them.

There are a variety of books in the literacy areas and early writing resources available for the children to access independently. Phonics is also taught daily to develop the children’s early reading and writing skills.

Below are the of the high-quality reading texts that are used to develop reading and writing skills.