English

The aim for English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.  The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure that all 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 literacy 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 presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

The Teaching of Reading

We will enable all of our children with skills of word recognition and comprehension in a progressive manner to facilitate a love or reading. Through this approach, they will be able to access the world of awe and wonder that can be found in books and be able to read with confidence within and beyond their educational careers.

Phonics

In EYFS and Key Stage 1 we use the Read Write Inc. Phonics (RWI) scheme, which is DfE-validated systematic synthetic phonics programme to teach phonics systematically and consistently. Like all phonics schemes, it teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Read Write Inc. Phonics includes reading books written using only the letters they have learnt at each level (and a small number of separately taught tricky words). This approach allows the children to quickly feel confident and successful. Watch the short video to understand more about how Read Write Inc. Phonics will help your child to read. Most children will progress off the RWI Phonics Scheme by the end of Year 2; some however will need additional phonics support or intervention and this will continue into Key Stage 2 if required. 

Our Reading Curriculum

We use the CUSP Reading curriculum from Year 1 (in addition to daily phonics in Years 1 and 2) to Year 6 to teach children how to read and engage with texts through discussion and written responses; this approach teaches children to read for meaning and focuses on the skills of reading such as fluency, retrieval, summarising, inference and prediction. Working on a 2 year cycle, each phase will study a suite of core texts that will form the depth study for the academic year.  These texts have been mapped carefully to ensure a breadth of experiences, authors, texts and themes is addressed across the Primary years. In addition to these texts, there are core poems that each year group will study in detail. Non-fiction and supporting texts are taught alongside the core texts to build pupils' subject knowledge which supports them in accessing the main themes of the core texts. During their time with us, children at Braithwaite CE School will be exposed to several texts by the same author, heritage texts, texts by BAME authors or have a BAME protagonist, texts which have a strong female role model and texts that tackle social, ethical or moral issues.

Developing a Love of Reading

Children love reading in our recently revamped library! This project was led by school Council and supported by a local charity, The Battersby Trust. Each class enjoys using our well-stocked library each week to chose books which interest them. Children in Key Stage 2 also have the opportunity to earn a Braithwaite Bookworm Award (Bronze, Silver and Gold) by reading a wide variety of different texts. All classes also enjoy regular story time which includes carefully chosen stories, including classics, to experience and love. 

Reading at Home

EYFS and KS1

In KS1, children will come home with 3 books each week: a levelled phonic book to match their reading ability, a story book to share for enjoyment and a library book. Phonics and story books will be changed weekly and library books can be swapped once they are finished. Ideally, we ask parents to read daily at home and record any comments in the reading diary. Children should not be expected to read the story book as they will not yet have been taught the sounds they need in order to access this. This book is to be read to them and is for enjoyment and to expose them to higher levels of vocabulary which may need to be discussed. The same approach should be taken with library books.

Developing Readers

Once children are confident with their phonics knowledge and reading these books with fluency, they are ready to move onto the Accelerated Reader system of book levels. Once pupils are reading independently they are assessed at least termly on the Star Reader programme which provides staff with a ZPD (range of book levels that the pupil should be reading within) allowing children to read a range of genres as they progress, broadening the range of language that they encounter.  Pupils choosing books within this ZPD can then 'quiz' on the books after reading them and this gives them (and the staff) feedback about their comprehension of the text and encourages children to read for meaning.  As they move into Key Stage 2, children will come home with an Accelerated Reader levelled book and a library book. Ideally, we expect children to read every day, but at least 4 times a week and to be recorded in their reading record.

Information for Parents About Reading 

We have included below some information that parents might find useful regarding how to support reading or phonics at home.  There is also information on how you can find books using Accelerated Reader .  Click to open the relevant file:

The Teaching of Writing, Spelling & Handwriting

We want children to love the richness of the English language; to understand relationships between words and develop a wide-ranging vocabulary. We will support them to spell accurately and to develop their own joined, legible style of handwriting. Explicit teaching of grammar and punctuation conventions will enable children to become confident writers who can communicate effectively and articulately with a range of audiences.

We use the CUSP Writing curriculum to teach writing from Years 1 - Year 6. Working on a 2 year cycle, each phase will study a range of text types including narrative, poetry, balanced arguments, news reports and explanatory texts. Children are expected to apply their writing skills across other curriculum subjects in order to communicate their ideas. 

We teach spelling systematically in our school, using the CUSP spelling scheme which teaches the spelling patterns in the National Curriculum for Years 1 to Year 6. All year groups have explicit spelling lessons 4 times a week.

Children are provided with many mark-making opportunities from the moment they join us in nursery. This progresses through their time in EYFS to recognising letters and forming them. Once children can confidently and accurately form all letters, they are taught to join their handwriting. 

The Teaching of Spoken Language

The spoken word is a powerful tool to build knowledge and affect change. We will empower our children with a rich vocabulary bank on which they can draw to develop their understanding of the world around them and to give them to confidence to articulately express their views and ideas with a range of audiences.

Our curriculum reflects the importance of spoken language by giving children the opportunity to develop their vocabulary both cognitively, socially and linguistically in all subjects. Spoken language can also be applied in wider school events such as church services, after school clubs, open days and School Council elections.