Spoken Language
At all ages, the ability to listen and respond appropriately to others is a critical life-skill and key to accessing and developing children’s learning in school and the world around them.
We use talk in the classroom daily, we model and teach children to articulate their answers, questions, opinions, arguments, descriptions and explanations, as well as express their feelings.
We encourage children to use the English language articulately in order to communicate with their audience effectively. We regularly use talk to clarify and solidify thinking and learning through ‘Talk Partners’ in the classroom.
We provide real life contexts throughout the curriculum that provide opportunities for children to adapt their tone and style for a particular audience, from presentations to performances and role plays to debates. Talk is very much seen as a key to success.
English
We believe that children should develop skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It enables them to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate with others effectively.
The aim for our English curriculum is to promote high standards of literacy by equipping children with a strong command of the written and spoken word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. Our curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:
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read easily, fluently and with good understanding;
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develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
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acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions of reading, writing and spoken language
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appreciate our rich and varied literacy heritage
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write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
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use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
At Frenchay Church of England Primary School we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Through phonics children learn to segment words to support their spelling ability and blend sounds to read words. The teaching of phonics is of the highest priority.
We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
- We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
- Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
- We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
- Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
- Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. Children can then focus on developing fluency and comprehension throughout the school. Attainment in phonics is measured by the Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1.
Reading
Reading practice sessions
- We teach children to read through reading practice sessions twice a week. These:
- are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children
- use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments
- are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis.
- Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
- decoding
- prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
- comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.
- In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.
- In Year 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.
Home Reading
In EYFS and KS1, decodable reading books are taken home to ensure success is shared with the family. Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision.
For more information about your child's phonics, please follow the link:
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
In KS2, every class has a dedicated whole class Guided Reading session. The aim is for all children to benefit from exposure to a broad range of quality texts both to expand their knowledge of the world and their vocabulary so that no child is disadvantaged, irrespective of their starting points. Reading lessons are structured to cover skills including inference, prediction, retrieval, explanation and summarising. Importantly, every class enjoys a daily story session of Reading for Pleasure where an adult models reading aloud including characterisation, modulation and fluency.
