ENGLISH: READING

INTENT

For pupils to succeed in education, reading has got to be a priority. The World Literacy Foundation states that pupils’ reading ability and knowledge acquisition are of great importance, with the associated costs to the lives of individuals and wider society being enormous (2015). A recent review of research (Castles, Rastle and Nation, 2018) looked at over 300 studies to highlight best practice: a phonics-based approach to help young children crack the ‘alphabetic code’; immersion in text to develop word-recognition skills and reading fluency; vocabulary development; and the influence of knowledge, processing and cognition on wider comprehension. We have aimed to embed this practice within our reading approaches and resources.

We aim for all pupils – irrespective of their needs, abilities or background – to learn to read fluently and with understanding. We aim to meet – and where possible exceed – the expectations laid out in the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum. We want to develop secure, confident, independent readers who enjoy and understand the benefits that reading brings.

IMPLEMENTATION

The direct teaching of reading starts with oracy and phonics. We follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme, with this being complemented by purposeful talk and the use of shared reading experiences that expose pupils to a wider range of vocabulary, syntax and sentence structure. Our children receive a daily phonics lesson in which they participate in speaking, listening and spelling activities that are matched to their developmental needs. 

Teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure that children are stretched and challenged, and to identify those children who may need additional support. We aim for all pupils to finish the programme by the end of KS1. If their decoding skills are secure before this time, they undertake structured comprehension lessons. If they are not secure by the end of KS1, they will continue to access the RWI programme in Year 3.

By KS2, our aim is for all pupils to be ready for our daily, whole-class reading lessons. The focus here is on the development of vocabulary, fluency, reading stamina, specific reading skills and knowledge through immersion into a wide range of texts. For each year group, these lessons are based on a series of themed texts and class novels, with these acting as a stimulus for skill development and deep thinking. These texts cover a range of fiction and non-fiction genres that aim to develop pupils’ cultural capital, general knowledge and wider understanding. 

In addition, geography and history lessons in KS2 are based on a series of text-based booklets, with these being used as part of an ‘everybody reads’ approach across the curriculum. Furthermore, writing lessons focus on word- and sentence-level understanding, with many of the activities making use of skills that will enhance pupils’ comprehension of written language. 

Reading for pleasure is also a focus throughout our schools, with school and class libraries providing books for home reading, and initiatives being undertaken to promote reading as a positive past-time. According to research, this plays a major role in reading development, while also providing pupils with an alternative to the digital distractions that can affect their personal wellbeing.

Covid Adaptations:

To combat missed schooling, our main focus will be on developing reading fluency and deeper understanding of language:

• More opportunities for teacher modelling, choral reading and echo reading
• More opportunities for ‘performance reading’ to build understanding of how language and syntax can be used to aid fluency and expression
• More opportunities for ‘repeated readings’ to build sight knowledge of common words and word shapes
• Changes to the structure of the weekly ‘class novel lesson’ to incorporate additional adult-led reading and to have greater oral discussion and debate around key points from the novels
• Creation of book review channel on class SeeSaw and school websites to promote reading for pleasure.

Click on the PDF documents at the bottom of the page to look at our Reading Spines.

ENGLISH: WRITING

INTENT

In order to provide pupils with the best educational experience, teachers’ practice should be based on both subject-specific and general pedagogical research. In the case of writing, this means high quality modelling of the writing process, including insights into the writer’s mind. Writing is a complex procedure: to aid cognition, it should be broken down into manageable chunks and specific steps. Research also tells us that grammar rules are best learnt contextually – within a piece of writing – as opposed to having separate lessons that use de-contextualised worksheets to apply them in a mechanical way. This also applies to the development of language and syntax, with nuances of meaning and effect developed as part of instructional modelling.

To embed such complex learning, opportunities are needed to practise word- and sentence-level skills repeatedly over time – but in different contexts. In addition, an understanding of the writing process should also include the planning, drafting, editing and revision of longer pieces. The development of metacognitive skills within such practice will put pupils in a strong position for their future schooling.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our daily writing lessons follow an approach developed by the Literacy consultant, Jane Consadine (The Write Stuff). It aligns with the cognitive principles outlined above, and covers the requirements of the National Curriculum. We have structured units of work into a long-term plan that has strong links to the wider curriculum while also covering a range of genres within fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Each unit begins with a series of ‘sentence-stacking’ lessons that are used to develop pupils’ understanding of grammar, syntax and vocabulary. These provide a high level of cognitive support so that the complexity of learning at this stage is scaffolded for success. At appropriate times, ‘experience lessons’ are used to provide structured opportunities for vocabulary development, drama, experiential learning or research so that pupils’ understanding of the topic or fictional situation is deepened. Following this, a separate series of independent writing lessons takes pupils from the planning stage to the development of a final written piece. 

To align the approach with pupils’ phonic development, we have adapted it for KS1 so that the strategies used align with ‘Read Write Inc’ methodologies this is to ensure children only practice sounds that they know.

We follow the Nelson scheme for handwriting, with sessions timetabled daily. 

For spelling, we have a weekly focus that looks at rules and patterns. We test spellings by giving daily chunks that include examples of the rules, words set out in the National Curriculum, and additional subject-specific words. This approach was adopted to support cognitive load after seeing that many pupils struggled to cope with the learning of longer weekly lists.

Covid Adaptations:

To combat disruptions to schooling, our main focus will be on the robust assessment of national curriculum objectives and structured re-teaching of these where needed: 

• We plan to make adjustments to our end-of-unit assessment in order to have a stronger focus on re-teaching to cover gaps in learning
• We will use an approach that fits with our coaching strategy, with teachers supported through data-driven assessment meetings