ENGLISH CURRICULUM | Fleecefield

English at Fleecefield

When our pupils leave Fleecefield, we expect them to be able to be confident and fluent communicators through speaking and listening, reading and writing. We expect this because we know that good communication skills will open up a wide range of opportunities for them within and beyond their local community.

Reading

Reading is a priority at Fleecefield; we expect every child to be a reader. We start with providing children with a wide variety of books that promotes enthusiasm and encourages a love of reading as we know that when children enjoy reading, this will have a huge impact on their success throughout the curriculum. Teachers share books through regular story times which provides pupils with opportunities to experience a wide range of texts; engaging book talk; introduction of new vocabulary and opens up a whole world of background knowledge they can apply to their learning. We also have a strong emphasis on developing pupil’s vocabulary which is reinforced during reading lessons and throughout the curriculum.

EYFS

At the start of their journey, children learn to decode using the Read Write Inc synthetic phonics scheme (further information is available on our web page) and develop inference skills using the CLPE’s Power of Reading strategy. As well as developing sound reading strategies, we also emphasise the development of quality talk.

KS1

Children continue on their phonics journey which is complemented with the Power of Reading strategy and texts. Each book is used over two or three weeks, building up as the story is slowly revealed. Teachers use a range of teaching strategies to stimulate booktalk and role play. Pupils are also encouraged to engage with the stories independently through a range of available resources. Questioning is used to develop the pupil’s inference skills and this also leads to a range of writing outcomes.

KS2

In KS2, we explicitly teach inference strategies by teaching weekly discrete domain driven reading lessons. Pupils also have a core book focus each term that has been chosen to compliment the curriculum and offer a diverse reading experience across the year. Teaching has a strong emphasis on improving children’s ability in areas such as; prediction, visualising, summarizing and developing fluency and vocabulary so that children can make more complex inferences as they progress through the school.

Reading for Pleasure

Research has shown that children who develop a real love of reading not only perform better academically; their wellbeing is also enhanced. This is why we are continuously developing this area of our practice. We are currently taking part in the Open University Reading for Pleasure project which will enhance our practice and continue to build a school community (pupils, parents and staff) that love reading; shares reading and promotes reading in a range of different ways.

Each year group creates engaging reading areas and displays and also hosts termly parent reading meetings. Parents are encouraged to come along, share a book with their child and learn ways to support their children at home. Look out for the book fairs and bookish themed events that will run throughout the year.

Home Reading

At Fleecefield, the partnership between home and school is integral to our pupil’s progress so we expect all pupils to read at home every day.

Children bring home age and stage appropriate books each day and parents have the opportunity to spend time with their children listening to them read. Our pupils also have access to a wide range of vocabulary games, visual stories, reading strategy revision and books, lots of books (including Oxford Owl and bilingual books) through our very own ‘Virtual Library’’ which can be accessed at home through their Google accounts.

WRITING

At Fleecefield we develop our pupils' writing skills in two key areas - transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (the organisation of ideas).

In EYFS and KS1 handwriting and spelling are taught regularly and this is linked to the RWI phonics program. In year 2, when they are ready, they are introduced to the continuous cursive style.

In KS2, we expect children to practise their spellings ready for weekly assessments. They also continue to develop their handwriting weekly, using the continuous cursive style.

We understand that talk is important for the development of pupils' writing so right from the start, in EYFS, good quality talk is a priority. In EYFS and KS1, most of our pupils' writing is closely linked to the Power of Reading Texts. In KS2, writing is linked to their core books and pupils get regular opportunities to create a piece of extended writing for a range of purposes.

Using a range of stimulus and good quality, enjoyable core books, children across the school demonstrate their writing skills during the weekly ‘Big Write’ session.

Please click here to access the list of Year 1 50 Recommended Reads
Please click here to access the list of Year 2 50 Recommended Reads
Please click here to access the list of Year 3 50 Recommended Reads
Please click here to access the list of Year 4 50 Recommended Reads
Please click here to access the list of Year 5 50 Recommended Reads
Please click here to access the list of Year 6 50 Recommended Reads