English
Starting in Reception, all children are taught in the daily Literacy Hour. Teachers plan the Literacy Hour based on the objectives set out for each term of every year in the Framework for Teaching of the National Literacy Strategy.
The Literacy Hour is usually divided into four parts:
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Whole-class Shared Reading or Shared Writing – about 15 minutes: teachers use big books and enlarged texts to teach reading and writing skills to the whole class.
Whole-class Word Work, Sentence Work – about 15 minutes: children are taught phonics (sounds and spellings), word recognition, punctuation and grammar.
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Small groups Guided Reading or Guided Writing – about 20 minutes: children are helped in small groups of similar ability to improve their reading and to develop their writing skills.
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Plenary – about 10 minutes: whole class reporting back, assessing what has been learned.
The Literacy Hour covers much of the teaching of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. Additional time (about three hours per week) is allocated for teaching reading in guided groups and for quiet reading, handwriting, extended writing, drama and literature. Literacy skills are also taught and applied across the whole curriculum.
Speaking and Listening
Children are encouraged to listen, understand and respond appropriately to others and to express their ideas clearly for a widening range of demands. This encouragement is given from their earliest days; opportunities are deliberately created for developing speaking and listening, including through role play and drama.
Reading
The teaching of reading is a priority.
We teach the children to read using published reading schemes, information sources, their own writing and a range of good quality literature. The 'core' reading schemes are the Oxford Reading Scheme and All Aboard. Children are taught from the start to use a range of skills and to focus on the meaning of what they are reading. They are encouraged to read for their own interest and pleasure and for information, and to develop as enthusiastic and reflective readers. Reference skills are introduced at appropriate stages.
Teachers support all children's reading very regularly. They record in the Home-School Reading Diary each child's developing reading and comprehension skills and let parents know how they can help their child.
Parental support for children's reading is vital throughout the school. We encourage parents to read to and with their children very regularly. As children develop independence, we ask parents to continue to support reading at home through sharing and discussing books. Parents are asked to keep in close contact with the teachers through the Home-School Reading Diary.
Writing
In teaching writing we aim to develop in all children a growing ability to construct and convey meaning clearly and accurately. Children are taught to write appropriately for a widening range of purposes and to develop increasing accuracy in spelling, punctuation and use of grammar.
Children are given many opportunities to develop their writing skills in a supportive, structured manner during the Literacy Hour and in extended writing sessions. Much of their written work is directly connected with other parts of the curriculum. Once they have achieved some independence, they are taught to edit and redraft their work. Word processing helps children learn how to edit and redraft their writing.
In Spelling children are taught letter sounds and to hear sounds in words. They are taught to produce recognisable spelling of commonly used words and they are taught the correct spelling of regularly used ‘high frequency’ words. They are taught to recognise spelling patterns and to use these patterns to spell a wider range of words. Children are taught to use dictionaries to check spellings.
Handwriting is taught in a structured way. In the early stages stress is on forming letters in the correct way. Joined handwriting is introduced when children have mastered correct letter formation. In Key Stage Two, children are taught to develop an increasingly fluent style.