St Philips CofE Primary

At St. Philip's CE Primary School, we strive to ensure that all pupils are equipped with the skills needed to be fluent in all aspects of English.

Communication lies at the heart of our Curriculum and success relies upon being fluent in speaking, listening, reading and writing.

We want to prepare our pupils for the next stage of their education by ensuring they can read, write and communicate with  confidence  for  a variety  of  purposes  and audiences, whilst developing their own individual flair and opinions. We strive for our pupils to leave St.  Philip’s as avid readers, who  can  read fluently  and  are able to express preferences  and opinions  about the texts they choose. We want them to read for pleasure, having had access to a wide range of genres and authors, making informed choices about their favourites. Reading and writing go hand in hand and at St. Philip's we adopt a read to write approach to the curriculum. Lesson sequences ensure that  prior  knowledge  is built  upon and  pupils are  immersed  in a  range of genres where writing for a purpose engages and ignites their passion. We strive that all pupils leave St. Philip's with a secure  knowledge of spelling and grammar  and understanding of how to edit writing and to write effectively for a range of purposes.

We follow the National Curriculum Programmes of study for all aspects of English.

Reading at school and at home

Children from EYFS to Year 6 are able to choose their own home reading books every week. Our reading system  is  book  banded  by colour,  using  books from  a  range  of  reading  schemes  including  Oxford Reading Tree, Project X  and  Songbirds.  Each  book  band from  Lilac to  Turquoise  has been carefully organised  to contain  decodable texts suitable for children  as they  move through  the different  phonic phases. Staff support the children  in Reception and Key Stage  1 to ensure they choose a book that  is allowing them to apply the phonics they have learn in class or to consolidate previous learning.

Additional to home reading books children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 can choose a bedtime story to take home each week. This is to develop a love of reading within their families at home as well as allowing them to be immersed in a variety of texts and language.

All pupils have access to our school library.

Phonics

In EYFS and  Key Stage  1  Phonics is taught daily, through  a Synthetic, Systematic  Phonics programme validated by the  Department  for  Education. As a school we teach phonics using Essential Letters and Sounds.

Each child from Reception to Year 2 takes part in phonics sessions daily with their class teacher. Children who are identified to be struggling with their phonics willalso have an additional daily phonics inteNention to keep them up with their phonics learning as wellas additional 1: 1 reading of a decodable text.

Each week children take home a decodable reading book for them to practise what they have learnt in school, at home with their families. From Year 1 upwards children will also have spellings to practise at home that include their new phonics learning.

Writing

Reading and  writing  go  hand  in  hand  and  at  St.  Philip's  we  adopt  a  read  to  write  approach  to  the curriculum. Lesson sequences ensure that prior knowledge is built upon and pupils are immersed in  a range of genres where writing for purpose engages and ignites their passion. We expect that all pupils leave St. Philip's with a secure knowledge of spelling and grammar and an understanding of how to edit writing and to write effectively for a range of purposes.

This is implemented by:

Lesson sequences: Sequences of lessons ensure that quality model texts clearly demonstrate what is expected of each genre so that pupils are aware of expectations from the start.

Working  Walls:  In every  class act  as the  invisible teacher  to support  the  child's  learning journey  and classrooms are text rich.

Spelling  lessons: Within  phonics and beyond, spelling  rules are taught  and practised. Spelling shed is used to engage pupils in spelling at home. Pupils in Year  1 and Year 2 are sent weekly spelling linked to their phonics learning to allow them an extra opportunity to apply their new learning. Spelling appendices for each year group are taught in either discreet spelling sessions or within  English lessons, whichever teachers feel will be the best way to deliver the specific spelling rule that week.

Grammar is integral to all literacy  units and  is taught  both discretely, as a separate  lesson  and within English units.

Shared,  guided  and  modelled  writing: Teachers  model writing  so that  children  fully  understand  the writing  process.  Teachers  model thinking  out  loud, editing  errors  and  improving  their  writing.  During shared writing  every pupil is given the opportunity  to contribute to the writing  process. This scaffolded further into paired, supported and finally independent writing.

Writing for a purpose: Whenever possible teachers plan writing opportunities with a clear, real-life purpose to motivate and inspire pupils to write for a variety of reasons.

Celebrations of  pupil's  achievements  in  writing  are  displayed  around  school  and  in  classrooms  to motivated and inspire pupils.