English

At South Wingfield Primary School, we place English at the very heart of our curriculum.  We recognise that a high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that not only are they are able to communicate effectively with others, but through their reading and listening skills, others can communicate with them. The ability and the enjoyment of reading allows pupils to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading also enables pupils to both acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; our aim is to ensure that every child leaves South Wingfield Primary School as a confident orator, reader and writer, fully equipped for the demands of the secondary curriculum and for life beyond that.

Reading

There are two dimensions involved in the skill of reading: word reading and comprehension (both listening and reading).

Skilled reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Work in Class 1 underpins much of the early development of learning to read and we aim to build on this by further in every other year by developing these skills and providing opportunities for those children who need extra support to catch up and keep up including phonic programmes such as; Letters and Sounds.

Comprehension skills are developed through high quality discussions and reading a wide range of stories, poems and non-fiction. Children in our Key Stage 2 classes have a class book based on their topic to further support cohesive learning.  By providing stimulating, relevant and high quality resources, we aim to broaden pupils’ knowledge of the world and themselves and extend their vocabulary.

Our aim is to foster a love of reading. Our reading scheme is colour coded and is regularly audited to ensure that books are relevant, smart and sufficiently varied. Our scheme consists of books from both published reading schemes and other high quality literature. Every two years a reading consultant visits and advises with purchasing. Pupils select from the structured scheme throughout their time with us but are invited to read other books either from home our library as they become more confident.  We also use Bug Club’s online reading resources, so that children can access an additional variety of high quality texts online – wherever they are!

Our school library has a large selection of fiction which is easily accessed alphabetically. New books are purchased regularly. The space is open every day to change reading books, sit and become absorbed in a book, or to research and work sensibly. School librarians from Class 5 run the school library and hold weekly story reading sessions with our younger children to initiate that love of reading.

Reading is a subject that is explicitly taught every day. The school has a variety of resources, including an online resource with Bug Club and First News, so that children get access to both fiction and non-fiction texts. Providing high quality literature is a top priority, and the books that we read, feed into many other areas of the curriculum. We aim to host author visits at least once a year. Books are woven into our daily English lessons, and class novels are read in directed whole class reading sessions.

Comprehension strategies are taught in every year group from Reception up to Year 6 with our Blue Box Comprehension alongside additional age related resources.  Pupils record their thoughts in guided reading books from Year 2 onwards.  All pupils have the opportunity to read independently at school and are encouraged to practise at home, recording entries in their personal reading diary. These diaries are monitored and celebrated weekly.  Children have the opportunity to win book tokens at the end of each half term for daily reading.

Writing

At South Wingfield Primary School we understand that writing is a complex process, one that involves weaving many threads together. We promote writing for pleasure as soon as children enter into Class 1 with their mark making, and we aim to provide an exciting stimulus for each writing project that children undertake. Class reading feeds directly into our writing and writing projects are often linked to other curriculum areas. We integrate the teaching of grammar and punctuation into our reading and writing sessions. 

Pupils are encouraged to be fully involved in the process of completing a piece of work, understanding that writing must be planned, edited and revised to make it the best that it can be. They are also involved in planning which elements will make each piece of writing successful and how they can improve as individual writers.

 Handwriting and presentation are important to us all, and particular focus is placed on developing a fluent, joined style in lower school. Pupils write in pencil or pen, depending on age, stage and task.

Spelling Shed is our online spelling programme, tailored to each year group. This involves a weekly spelling lesson, time to practise at school and at home and a test to measure progress. Non-negotiable spellings in our writing include a list of agreed core words and those that have been previously learned.