Intent:
Why is English important for pupils at Grampound Road?
We believe the teaching of English provides children with the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills to participate fully as a member of our school community and in the wider world.
At Grampound Road, we want children to become avid readers who engage in high quality reading opportunities that are both pleasurable and challenging. We aim to ensure all children have access to a broad range of high quality reading materials & opportunities, which will enable them to become lifelong, independent and confident readers who read for pleasure and for information. We want our children to be able to read fluently and widely and express preferences and opinions about the texts and authors that they read.
English is taught through a sequential journey that encourages children to read like a writer and write like a reader. It is our intention that children use their rich and varied reading experiences to inform their writing. We aim to expose our children to a wide range of ambitious vocabulary (through reading and writing) which they are expected to apply in their speaking, listening and writing. We want children to have opportunities to write for a range of audiences and purposes using the grammatical accuracy, application of their spelling and phonic knowledge and the use of a cursive handwriting style appropriate for their age.
Implementation:
We follow the Read Write Inc approach to teaching Reading and Phonics, supplemented with additional reading materials. Our approach is systematic, consistent and rigorous in order that all children become readers as quickly as possible. We use the same phonics programme across the school providing continuity and a vehicle for progression. RWI sessions take place five times a week. Pupils are taught in ability groups from thus enabling them to be taught according to their reading level not their age.
Daily RWI sessions develop children’s ability to decode by focusing on phonemic awareness and phonic skills, enabling children to meet or exceed their Early Learning Goals in Reception and the expectations of reading outlined in the National Curriculum as they move through to KS1. As children move through Year 2 and complete RWI, they are transitioned onto Accelerated Reader, where they are tested and given a reading level based on their ability. In year 2 and KS2, a whole class reading approach is used where the learning is focused on developing fluency, vocabulary and the elements of comprehension and we also use reciprocal reading.
Pupils’ progress is closely monitored, and interventions put in place to support children who are not making the expected progress. Every class also listens to a class novel every day, which is matched to their year group and their class topic for each term.
Pupils have Reading Journals and read independently, read with an adult or read to an adult. During reading lessons, we encourage pupils to respond to texts verbally and to complete reading quizzes. We supplement our own school library with additional Topic Boxes from the Cornwall School Library Service, which are changed on a termly basis. We recognise achievement by awarding certificates in our weekly Celebration Assemblies, by celebrating World Book Day and by taking part in local Library Reading Challenges.
Impact:
At Grampound Road our pupils enjoy reading regularly, for information and for pleasure. Our pupils have access to a range of different text types to give them the opportunity to explore rich texts. Our pupils discuss books with excitement and interest and enjoy sharing different texts with others, including both adults and children.
Books match sounds
To ensure children have sufficient practice of the reading skills taught through the rigorous RWI programme, they access home reading books in the Early Years and KS1 which closely match the phonics stage individual to the child.
Children in the Early Years and KS1 at Grampound Road take home:
Fluency book – this book is their ‘Read Write Inc’ book bag book which matches their phonics stage. We would expect that each child would be able to read these books fluently and apply their phonic knowledge independently. The children access this book for one week to ensure they are given daily, sufficient practice to read, re-read and retell stories whilst embedding their phonic knowledge and reading fluency.
Black and white practice book – this book is fully decodable and matches the books read in school.
Reading for Pleasure book – As we aim to develop lifelong readers, we encourage each child to choose a book from the school library or class library. This can include non-fiction, fiction or poetry texts dependent on the child's choice and will not match their phonic level. Parents are encouraged to share this book at home as this book to develop a love for reading.
