English Vision Statement

Overview

Our daily literacy lessons cover a range of writing and reading text types and are based on the book or texts being studied. The range of texts give children a real life impression of different text types and authors. It is also an opportunity to apply new, higher-level vocabulary, exploring, for example, how synonyms create impressions of characters. Children also talk about their writing and their reading. This deepens their understanding of a particular text type of story. 

Children are given the choice to select specific words or vocabulary in lessons. Whether they are reading, writing or using spoken language, children can be independent learners within English lessons. This comes when the children read alone or listen to others as well as independent writing opportunities. Adaptations are made to suit children of all abilities and support is given where possible. Childrens' knowledge is assessed at the start of particular units in order to see if this has been embedded in previous year groups.  This will ensure lessons are sequenced and built upon what has previously been learnt.  Teaching strategies are used in lessons to regularly check the children's knowledge using growth mindset strategies. 

Reading

At St Peter’s, our aim is to create independent, confident and self-assured readers who enjoy books. We do this by providing a range of texts whilst ensuring understanding of a text is embedded. We do this through reading independently, shared or whole class reading. Our children listen to adults and other children read aloud daily. 

Our programme of study is based on texts that have been carefully selected to provide interest, challenge and variety. Children will read and discuss a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This knowledge of varied texts and authors leads to the children being able choose their own books when reading for pleasure which they can do so by using the Accelerated Reader book finder website and ordering the book to school.

From Year Three onwards, we provide every child with a copy of the focus fiction book for each half term to promote independent reading and promote discussion along with shared reading in school. This encourages the children developing a reading for pleasure, which provides the children with real life experiences.

As the children move through school, they will apply their growing knowledge of vocabulary both to reading aloud and to understanding the meaning of the new words they meet. We do this through whole class reading in school where children are leading their class mates through the texts. They increase their knowledge of higher-level vocabulary, synonyms and develop strategies for making meaning from new and unfamiliar words, building on lower key stage 2, children will continue to develop their retrieval skills, selecting and summarising key information from more complex texts.

They study an author’s use of language and the impact of this on the reader. Children encounter a wider range of poetry, learning some poems by heart. Children develop their skills selecting and recording key information and details from a wide range of texts. They will increase their understanding of higher-tier vocabulary and information from non-fiction texts. Children will draw conclusions about characters, plots, new vocabulary and information or facts. Children use coaching methods to develop each other's understanding of text in older year groups as part of team learning.

https://www.theparliamentaryreview.co.uk/organisations/fulwood-st-peter-s-ce-primary-school

Writing

We encourage all our children to become independent writers in their own right. At St. Peter’s we ensure that children are provided with real life writing opportunities. These are linked to our texts we are looking at in class as well as spreading writing opportunities to other subjects.

As the children move through school they will develop their skills from letter formation through to choosing specific sentence structures and language when writing for a specific audience. The range of writing and planning opportunities give children real life skills to take them into the next stage of their education. Children will become used to the sequential teaching cycle which includes reading, gathering content and writing as they move through school which embeds the process of writing and gives the children the skills they need to become competent writers.

Children can lead teams when sharing their writing to a small group or the class. They can talk about their writing. This may be discussing their plans before writing or reading their writing to the class. This leads to the children making informed choices about which language to use when they write or how to structure their work. Key skills in grammar and punctuation are also taught within the context of the genre of writing being studied so that these skills can be embedded in a meaningful way.

PHONICS

From January 2022 we have introduced Read Write Inc as our phonics scheme.