At St Peter’s primary school, we recognise the crucial importance reading, writing and spoken language has in the development of the English Language. Pupils are given the opportunities to engage with a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We offer a broad and balanced approach to the teaching of English across the curriculum, with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce skills taught. Statutory requirements for the teaching and learning of English are laid out in the National Curriculum English Document (2014) and in the Communication and Language and Literacy section of the Statutory Framework for EYFS. The National Curriculum for English is used to plan for the delivery of English to ensure continuity and progression.

Our school uses Ready Steady Write to deliver our writing curriculum. They have been designed by Literacy Counts as a scaffold and a guide for teachers to provide high-quality teaching of writing through high-quality literature. These detailed units centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities within and across the curriculum and also signpost wider curriculum enrichment.

At St Peter’s we use Read Write Inc to teach our children how to read. This systematic synthetic phonics program is proven to help children to read effortlessly so they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. The children are assessed regularly and grouped according to their ability. They will work with a RWI trained reading teacher in daily lessons and have extra support if needed. In addition to the RWI, children will also be working on writing skills in their classes with their own teacher.  

Once children have completed the phonics scheme, they read daily as part of a whole class session. This is called ‘Shared Reading’ and is taught through the Grammasaurus  Comprehension Crusher scheme. Each day children practise reading with expression, fluency and comprehension. They then discuss different vocabulary, explore the meaning of parts of the text and discuss the texts in detail.

 

 A love of reading is promoted in school in a range of ways. We have well stocked, attractive library at the heart of our school. Pupil librarians take responsibility for ensuring it is tidy. In each class, teachers read daily to the children. We have various events throughout the year celebrating reading, e.g. World Book Day, visits to our local library and we have had author visits and book signings.

Phonics session