Writing across the curriculum

Writing for a clear purpose is encouraged throughout the curriculum and opportunities to produce extended pieces of writing in different curricular areas are planned for each week by staff. In these sessions, pupils are encouraged to apply their new learning into a genre of writing (that they have already been exposed to in writing sessions), for example, pupils may write a diary entry about an evacuee in history. In these sessions, adults will provide feedback on the application of writing skills, as well as the specific topic content. 

Spelling 

Morning sessions are used for focused learning of spellings and consolidation of grammatical structures. Children are introduced to different spelling rules (following the National Curriculum objectives) and explicitly practise these through a range of activities, both discreetly and in context, before being tested on them weekly. 

All children are put through the KS1 Phonics Screener when they enter LKS2 and individuals are identified for further support to develop their phonic knowledge. Pupils who do not pass, are supported to continue developing their phonics knowledge with carefully planned sessions using the DfE approved Twinkl phonics scheme. These sessions are intensive and progressive over Autumn term to catch children up. Pupils are rescreened at the end of Autumn 1, and then again in Autumn 2, to ensure targeted  interventions are effective. 

Handwriting

The children are taught letter formation and cursive script explicitly in LKS2. Handwriting sessions are built into the curriculum timetable for children in Year 3 and Year 4 when handwriting becomes established.  Interventions are carried out for specific children in Year 5 and Year 6 who require more support with their handwriting and/or fine motor skills.

Guided Reading

Guided reading takes place in every classroom once a day where all of the children read the same whole-class reading book. The book is carefully selected to either complement the area of study for that particular term or the book is chosen as a recommended choice for that year group. Books are selected to expose our children to the highest standard of vocabulary and grammar.  The sessions consist of reading aloud from the children and adults in the room but there will also be sessions which include silent reading or independent reading. The children will then respond to the text they have read using the VIPERS skills (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising). They may focus on just one of these skills or a combination of a few. Book Talk sessions provide the children with opportunities to discuss the texts they are reading and to look more in depth at particular extracts which the class teacher would like them to focus on. They also encourage the children to start their discussions with chosen sentence starters so that it becomes habitual when answering response questions. In LKS2, Guided Reading groups are created based on early reading assessments and appropriate texts are suitably selected for each group of readers. 

Early Reading 

In Year 3, the children are assessed in their reading from discussions with their Year 2 teachers, phonics screening and their initial testing. From there, the children are organised  into reading groups. One group will focus specifically on phonics in reading based on the (DfE approved) Twinkl phonics scheme. These children will be given a reading book which focuses specifically on the sounds and graphemes currently being taught in their sessions. Once they have successfully passed their phonics screener when retested, they will then be placed into a guided reading group where books are selected to gently ease these early readers into more challenging texts and questioning.