English
English programmes of study follow the National Curriculum. All children are taught English skills directly and then apply these skills across a range of cross-curricular contexts. A link to the National Curriculum is HERE. Our curriculum planning is in the documents below.
Phonics
In Early Years and Key Stage 1 we have a rigorous approach to Phonics Teaching. We follow the DfE validated Rising Stars Rocket Phonics, in line with our Rising Stars Reading Planet reading scheme. Details of this can be found HERE.
Reading
We develop reading at every stage. We recognise the importance of early reading and how interested, motivated reader often become the best writers. We listen to readers in school and support parents to read at home too. We encourage children by sharing books they will enjoy. It is important to recognise that once children can decode the words confidently, that the focus switches to comprehension, ensure the children have fully understood what they have read. Here we carefully question children to encourage them to recount, predict, interpret and understand the text they have read. In class we choose books which are challenging, carefully checking children have understood the text before moving on. We find this is a valuable way to extend vocabulary and introduce new literary concepts.
In November 2020, we replaced the phonics and early reading scheme, to ensure the books were current, engaging and fully phonically decodable. Below are some resources to help parents choose books their children will love. There are suggestions of different types of books for each year group, progression in different story types from KS1 to KS2 and beyond, a 'tube map' of suggested books based on popular topics (KS1) and authors (KS2) as well as an inclusive selection which address issues from bereavement to asylum seekers to autism to different family structures. We aim to have many of these books in school and available to borrow. Please let us know if you find them useful.
We regularly run Early Reading parents sessions, which parents say are helpful and informative. The materials used are below.
Recommended Reading - ideas for Reading for Pleasure
These websites offer good suggestions of where to go for high-quality, enjoyable books:
