English

The aims for English, as set out in the new National Curriculum, are to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure pupils:

• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentation, demonstrating to others and participating in debates

Literacy

At Christleton Primary School, teachers use a range of techniques to engage children in the literacy lesson. Visual literacy, enlarged texts, books or pictures are used at the start of a unit of work to stimulate and enable children to experience what they will be writing about. Drama and role play are also used to encourage interactive learning and promote the children’s imagination, as an aid to scaffolding their writing. At the start of the writing process children are exposed to many samples of the writing genre, this fundamental stage provides the opportunity to introduce children to a specific genre form, enabling them to capture ideas and secure understanding. As the writing process continues, the teacher models writing and undertakes shared writing, guided writing and talk for writing to develop the children’s knowledge and skills, in readiness for the independent writing they then undertake.

During the literacy lesson, the teacher will engage the whole class in shared reading or writing focusing on specific skills to be developed. The children then work in groups or individually, on independent activities differentiated by the teacher according to ability. In addition to the Literacy lessons, teachers plan for pupils to practise and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through literacy lessons to other areas of the curriculum.

Phonics

At Christleton Primary School, early reading is taught using synthetic phonics as the main approach through the Read Write Inc scheme.

What is Read Write Inc? 
Read Write Inc (RWI) is a consistent, rigorous and dynamic literacy programme to teach EVERY child to read by the age of six. Using synthetic phonics, children quickly learn to blend letter sounds together following a fun and effective programme. 

Why are we using RWI?
The RWI programme has been proven to be a very successful method of teaching every child to read and write using phonics. Evidence of this can be found in the Ofsted Report,  Reading by six: how the best schools do it. 

Who will be following the programme?
All children in Key Stage Once and EYFS are regularly assessed and put into groups at the appropriate level for them. On completion of the RWI programme, some children will then progress into our normal literacy lessons. 

How often will my child read with a teacher? 
Children will read their RWI books every morning with a trained member of staff (Eg. the class teacher, teaching assistant, or other support staff). These books will be kept in school. Your child will still bring home a reading book that is closely matched to their phonic knowledge and it is still important that you listen to your child read every day.

How can I help my child?
Many parents wish to help their child at home to learn to read.  When children are learning to read and write, it is much easier to say the sounds in a pure way.  This also helps children to segment words in order to be able to spell them.  In order for you to help your child we recommend that you watch the 'Phonemes pronunciation guide DVD' which can be found athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J2Ddf_0Om8

Spelling

In addition to phonics teaching, children from year 1 to year 6 use the Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check approach to learn spellings. From year 2 to year 6 the we follow the Read Write Inc spelling programme and utilise Spelling Shed to practise spellings online.

Reading Schemes

At Christleton Primary School, we use Read Write Inc book bag books to support children in their early stages of reading. These books are closely matched to the phonics stage of each individual child, allowing them to practise and embed what they are being taught in school. Children are also encouraged to take home books to be shared with an adult and read to them so that they can enjoy books of all different styles and genres. Once children have completed the read Write Inc programme, they can then choose from a range of reading books to continue them on in their reading journey. Children are taught how to choose a reading book that is appropriate for them and allows them to continue to practise their reading books whilst not being too challenging. 

Teachers plan guided reading sessions to teach individual children to become fluent in reading and comprehension skills of inference and deduction. Teachers group the children into small groups according to ability.

When a child has sufficiently developed their reading skills they will be moved from the book banded books onto ‘free reads’. Children at this stage are able to choose from a wide range of reading material in our school library.

Reading for Pleasure

At Christleton Primary School, we encourage pupils to develop a love of reading by having a well-stocked library and book selections available in each classroom.

We actively promote the local libraries summer reading scheme and organise events such as extreme reading competitions, World Book Day, and the ‘Ten Million Minute Reading challenge’.

Year 6 children take on the role of librarians and promote reading and the love of books through competitions and assemblies.

Within the classroom, high quality texts are used as the basis for planning English teaching and class reads are chosen to provide whole class engagement. Children also start to bring in books from home that link to their personal preferences. School also sends home suggested reading lists and links to useful reading information are posted regularly onto the school twitter feed.