English

Reading

At St Andrew’s, we are passionate about providing an inspiring curriculum with quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts mapped out across all year groups. We are committed to developing a love for reading by sharing texts at every opportunity. Our school was short listed for a national Reading for Pleasure award and more about this can be found by clicking the link at the top of this page. Reading weaves throughout our entire curriculum, from daily explicit reading lessons to exploring a range of texts linked directly to the pupils’ topics of study and all children will be read to regularly. In our reading lessons, we focus on the skills you need to become a successful reader. These are displayed in every classroom as a reading jigsaw, as seen below.

Pupils are encouraged to read at home, after all reading is not only an absolute necessity for learning and life but also a pleasurable experience. Children take reading books home on a daily basis. We have a system in place for changing books. In KS1, each child changes their home reading book on a Monday. Parents and carers are encouraged to read this book each night to build up fluency. On a Friday, the children get to choose and take home a library book that they can share over the weekend. This is to expose them to a range of quality literature. In KS2 children can change their reading book when they need to and in some cases library books can be used as reading books. Our expectation is that children read at home as much as possible every week. Each child is given a Reading Record for parents to use. The teacher monitors these in order to ensure children are reading at home and also to gain information about other books that children may have access to at home. We carry out three parent reading workshops a year and a specific phonics workshop for KS1 parents.

Phonics

Our phonics journey begins as soon as the children start school in Reception. Phonics is taught systematically using a range of engaging ways to make the learning fun and memorable. Phonics sessions are taught daily in Reception and Year 1 and are made up of revising sounds, learning new sounds, playing games and reading and writing, following the ‘Little wandle’ programme. We aim to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge. Children are taught the different sounds that letters make as well as different combinations. Please see the videos and documents on the Parent Phonics page to see and listen to how each sound is pronounced. The children also progress through the high frequency word lists and these are words that they learn to read and spell. Sessions also cover how to segment words into their separate sounds as well as how to blend words together to make words.

In June, all Year 1 children will be expected to undertake a statutory Phonics Screening Check. The aim of this is to check that each child is making the expected progress in phonics and using their skills to decode unfamiliar words when reading. The check comprises of a list of forty words, both real and nonsense, which each child reads one to one with a teacher. The children get to practice this several times across the year so they are familiar with the process and parents will be notified of their child’s progress. For any children that do not pass the check, they will receive extra support and resit in Year 2. If they do not pass the check in Year 2, they will receive specific phonic interventions in Year 3. For more information about the Phonics Screening Check, please click the link of the top of this page.

Reading Documents

Writing

At St Andrew’s, we use the Talk for Writing approach across the school. This method focusses on three clear stages, imitation, innovation and independent writing and units are mapped out across the school to ensure a wide range of genres are covered and then applied across the curriculum. Each unit taught begins with a ‘Cold Write’ which is an initial independent write to allow class teachers to clearly identify areas that need to be explicitly taught. During the innovation section, the children will get to learn a model text by using text maps and actions. These come home with the children so they can practice and share what they have learnt with parents and carers. After lots of teaching and practice, the children then go on to write their own piece of independent writing know as a ‘Hot Write’. Grammar and the technicalities of writing are embedded within our English lessons. The expectations of the new curriculum are high, with children needing a secure knowledge and understanding of formal grammar, including technical vocabulary. We carry out three writing workshops a year where parents and carers are invited into school to see what we do and learn more about English at St Andrew’s.

Handwriting at St Andrew's

Starting in reception, we support the children with their posture, pencil grip and letter formation. We use the ‘Little Wandle’ letter formation phrases to help the children remember how to form the letters correctly. These can be found in the ‘phonics’ section of our website.

Spelling at St Andrew's

At St Andrew’s, we use a mixture of segmenting and spelling rules set out in the National Curriculum, which enables teachers to deliver active spelling lessons from Year 2 to Year 6. Children will investigate and gain understanding of key spelling patterns and get the opportunity to activate prior knowledge by revisiting previous learning. Lessons are delivered over the year, in a series of planned out sessions, where children will be introduced to new concepts and given the opportunity to practise their skills. Statutory spellings will also be taught and you will find a list of these words above.

St Andrew's CofE Primary School