English Reading

Why we teach English

English is the foundation of all learning. We want children to grow into confident communicators who enjoy reading, writing and sharing their ideas. By exploring stories, poems, information texts and rich language, children learn about different places, people and experiences. English helps children develop imagination, empathy and creativity, and gives them the skills they need to succeed in every subject across the curriculum.

How we teach English

English is woven into daily life in school. Children learn through high-quality books, lively discussions and purposeful writing activities.

• Phonics helps younger children learn how letters and sounds work together so they can read unfamiliar words.
• Reading lessons help children understand stories deeply, talk about characters and events, and build strong comprehension skills.
• Writing is taught step by step, with teachers modelling how to plan, edit and improve.
• Vocabulary is taught explicitly because knowing more words helps children understand more of what they read and express themselves clearly.
• Drama, storytelling and group talk activities help children build speaking and listening skills in an enjoyable, confidence boosting way.

What we want children to learn

We want every child to become a fluent reader, a confident speaker and an enthusiastic writer. Children learn to express their thoughts clearly, choose interesting vocabulary and write for different purposes and audiences. Most importantly, we hope they finish primary school with a love of reading that stays with them for life.

Reading

Curriculum

We follow the National Curriculum in all subjects, using different resources to implement this.

Why are we doing this?

From the first day that a child joins us, we help children develop a love of reading and teach them the skills that they need to become confident readers.  We understand that reading is at the heart of all subjects and is a fundamental lifelong skill that opens the door to the study of any subject or career opportunities.

The National Curriculum states: ‘Fluency in the English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects’.

We ensure that books are carefully selected so that children experience empathy, diversity and inclusion, allowing children to experience the world beyond their own.

Early Reading

How are we implementing it?

Read Write Inc (RWI), a synthetic phonics program teaching reading in a systematic and structured way so the at children can decode all vocabulary they encounter.

Daily reading aloud of carefully selected, high quality texts aligned to the phonics programme which children are able to share at home.

Across the school we give children access to a wide range of books and digital literacy (genre, text type and media).

How Read Write Inc. Phonics works - a parent/carer’s guide

Understanding how phonics works for parents

How are we measuring the impact?

Children are grouped according to their reading ability.  At the end of each half term the children are assessed to check on their progress and are regrouped.

All year 1 children participate in the Phonics Screening Check which assess their ability to read words and provide additional support for those that require more help.

How do we make this inclusive?

Children are taught at the level that matches their current reading ability.  They all have access to fast paced revision activities that both recap, support and challenge them as individuals.  Some children receive one to one tuition to accelerate progress. At home, parents and carers have access to a bank of videos that can help to reinforce learning at school.

Reading beyond Phonics

How are we implementing this?

Once children have completed the phonics programme, they progress onto Read Write Inc comprehension, which supports children to understand, discuss and respond to high quality texts with increasingly complexity.

From year three, children that have completed the phonics programme, are included in the daily explicit teaching of reading.  This focuses on developing a wide range of reading, thinking and discussion skills so children become fluent, independent and analytical readers. Children are taught skills of prediction, retrieval, inference, explanation and summarising.