Intent:
At Flushing School, we believe strongly in the importance of instilling a love of Literacy and language in every child.Through our teaching of English, we aspire to equip all our pupils with the skills to enable them to achieve their full potential in every part of the curriculum and to enable them to become confident individuals. We are constantly striving to create a school with a love of reading, fiction, non fiction and poetry at its very core, reflected in all our children from the very youngest until they leave us in Year 6.
Implementation:
How do we do this?
We follow the National Curriculum for English, using this as a basis for our planning.
Reading is taught through the Read, Write, Inc programme, a highly structured approach to the teaching of phonics with phonetically matched reading books. In KS2, the teaching of reading is delivered through guided reading, reading comprehension and whole class novel study. We have worked on creating a "reading spine" running though our school, with carefully chosen texts often linked to topics, ensuring children are exposed to a range of quality children's literature and authors by the end of Year 6. In addition, we have been regularly adding to our class libraries through the purchase of recent publications with a particular focus on inclusivity. Promoting reading is at the forefront of everything we do, from paired reading across the school to shared reading with parents, World Book day events, reading challenges and competitions.
Developing children's Oracy skills is implicit in every subject, equipping our pupils with the vocabulary, mastery of the spoken word and articulacy to be able to express themselves and communicate with the around them.
The teaching of writing is closely linked to our Literature rich curriculum and inspiring topics. Through the teaching of writing we aim to extend children's vocabulary to enable them to become confident and adventurous authors. Writing is planned across the school to ensure progression. A variety of stimuli are used to inspire our writers: novels, poetry, film and carefully chosen trips and experiences.
Spellings and handwriting are taught through RWInc in KS1 and through focussing on spelling rules and patterns in KS2 with regular opportunities for practice. SPaG (Spellings, punctuation and grammar) and handwriting are taught in addition to the Literacy lesson in KS2
Impact:
The English lead regularly monitors and supports the teaching of Read, Write, Inc and coaches and trains phonics teachers with the support of the English Hub. Regular visits from the English Hub ensure that we are giving children the best start in their reading journey.
Observations and book looks enable enable the English lead to monitor progression across the school with feedback delivered to both staff and governors.Regular opportunities take place for writing moderation amongst our own colleagues and within the wider Penryn partnership. Constructive feedback and marking enables children and teachers to plan most effectively and react to the current needs of individuals.
Termly NFER assessments enable teachers to identify children's progress more formally and work from these summative assessments.
Through our teaching a Flushing School, we aim to nurture and develop our children's Literacy skills, so that they acquire the mastery of and love of language which will enable them to succeed and aspire to reach their full potential in life.