THE PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING IN ENGLISH English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES At Chaddesley Corbett Primary School, we aim to develop pupils’ abilities within an integrated programme of speaking & listening, reading and writing. Pupils will be given opportunities to interrelate the requirements of English within a broad and balanced approach to the teaching of English, with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills across the curriculum. Thus, by the end of Year 6 we aim for children to be able to:
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 literary 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; to elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas
become competent in speaking and listening; making formal presentations; demonstrating to others and participating in debate
THE TEACHING OF PHONICS Phonics are the sounds that letters make and learning them helps children to decode words and begin to read and write.
At Chaddesley, we have chosen to follow the Song of Sounds synthetic phonics scheme. We feel that teaching our children phonics skills with the help of a song and actions makes their learning more engaging and stimulating, while also giving the children a positive early reading experience. This approach has been chosen in order to be fully inclusive for the wide range of needs of our children. Our Song of Sounds scheme forms the basis of our phonics provision. This scheme uses a spiral approach, revisiting and deepening understanding as children progress from EYFS to Year 2. In addition to the scheme sequence, teachers regularly assess the needs of each pupil and where necessary implement additional support including interventions across key stages.
In Reception and KS1, phonics is taught every day. This session consists of the children singing a song with actions and then learning the individual sounds that make up words. Children are also exposed to 'tricky words' where they learn to read, spell and use words that cannot be sounded out phonetically. The scheme only teaches one GPC (Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence) per day to allow children to engage fully with that sound and avoid cognitive overload.
When children are taught to read through phonics they are taught that each word is made up of sounds. These sounds are called: Phonemes- one letter that makes one sound eg. ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ Digraphs- two letters that make one sound eg. ‘sh’ ‘th’ ‘ch’ Trigraphs- three or more letters that make one sound eg. ‘ear’ ‘air’ ‘igh’
This vocabulary is introduced progressively and by the end of key stage 1, children can confidently use and apply this language. Once children have learnt the initial sounds of words, we then encourage them to ‘blend’ the sounds together to make a word e.g. c - a - t. Children therefore 'decode' words by breaking them down into their sounds rather than having to memorise thousands of words individually. Based on the Song of Sounds scheme, the sounds children need to learn are structured into progressive groups of sounds used to scaffold the teaching of reading. These groups of sounds link directly to our chosen decodable reading books published by Big Cat Collins which include the specific sounds taught.
Children are regularly assessed using the Song of Sounds end of unit assessment sheets which provide teachers with the knowledge of which sounds the children can confidently recognise and which need to be revisited. This analysis gives teachers the information needed to identify to correct fully decodable book.
Phases are constantly revisited to build on previous knowledge. In Key Stage 2, phonics knowledge and fluency is developed further for specific pupils.
If you missed our Phonics workshop, you can find the slides from the presentation below.
From Year 2 onwards, children also take part in daily reading lessons where they are taught the wider skills of reading once they have secured their phonetic understanding. They are given the opportunity to look at texts in more depth and practise a range of reading skills to support their comprehension development. Children have access to a range of texts including non-fiction, fiction, poetry, magazines, newspapers etc to widen their reading experiences. We also ensure that reading is given high priority in other curriculum areas as we understand how important reading is in order to access learning in other subject disciplines.
In reading lessons, children use 'in the moment' of reading skills to be immersed in a text. Teachers model how to complete a deep read of a text and ensure children understand the skills needed to be a fluent reader who can comprehend a range of texts.
Children also take part in fluency sessions to ensure they are given the opportunity to read accurately and with automaticity. The explicit teaching of reading fluency includes demonstrating what fluent reading sounds like supporting children to build skills in reading speed, accuracy and prosody.
STORY TIME
We read aloud to the children throughout the school, on a daily basis, so that they learn the lasting enjoyment of books and want to read themselves. Reading a story aloud is one of the most important things carers and teachers can do with children. Books and stories stimulate a child's imagination and expand their understanding of the world. It builds many foundational skills, introduces vocabulary and provides a model of fluent and expressive reading. For this reason, we ensure children experience a daily story time session with their teacher.
HOME READING The best way to help your child achieve well in reading, and indeed across the curriculum is to hear them read, share and discuss a variety of reading materials as often as you can. Children at Chaddesley Corbett are expected to read at least 3 times per week at home, but we urge them to read more than this. The children are provided with a book banded reading book, matched closely to their reading ability, but are also encouraged to read widely.
THE TEACHING OF WRITING At Chaddesley Corbett Primary School, we teach writing through sequences that focus on Writerly Skills which become teaching toolkits. These are:
Vocabulary
Manipulation of sentence structure
Awareness of audience – purpose
Consistency
Grammatical accuracy – punctuation, tense etc.
Cohesion
Handwriting
Spelling
We use engaging texts, images and other media to immerse the pupils in the writing process and allow them to be hooked into their writing journey.
Writing Journey In KS1 and KS2 there are 3 stages to the writing journey: Stage 1 intent: To know what a good one looks and sounds like. Stage 2 intent: To have practised writing the text type. Stage 3 intent: To have planned, drafted and refined a piece of independent writing.
EYFS use a similar approach to KS1 and KS2. They start with a book as a hook. They then plan activities to immerse the children in the text (acting, hot seating, discussions, sequencing etc.). Finally, they give the children an opportunity to write. Continuous provision is also set up to link to the theme and the hook. Children use continuous provision to help with writing and fine motor skills.
In EYFS and KS1, spelling is taught through the Song of Sounds phonics scheme. From Y2, spelling is taught through the No Nonsense Spelling Programme. The No Nonsense Spelling Programmeoffers a comprehensive yet accessible progression in the teaching of spelling. The focus of the programme is on the teaching of spelling, which embraces knowledge of spelling conventions – patterns and rules; but integral to the teaching is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings. The programme has clear progression through blocks of teaching units across the year.
HANDWRITING
From EYFS, letter formation is taught using the Song of Sounds letter formation patter. From KS2, children then learn to use cursive handwriting using the the Letter Join scheme.