Curriculum Progression

Our English curriculum is carefully planned to ensure progression of skills, as well as coverage of genres, so that the children grow up as fluent readers and writers. These skills are then applied in other subjects through opportunities promoted in our topic 'Cornerstones' curriculum.

Reading & Phonics

Reading is obviously recognised as an essential element of all learning. We aim to teach the skills of reading and to foster a lifelong love of language.  Children bring books home from their earliest days in school. We view the education of children as a partnership with parents and ask them to read with their children as often as possible. Early reading books are levelled carefully, matched to the teaching of phonics, and children work systematically through each level at their own pace.

All children will be heard to read in school as often as possible. Much of their reading will be done in English lessons and guided reading, but group and individual reading will also occur. All of the children will bring books home to read and parents can comment in their reading records.

Children begin reading with a range of phonetically decodable reading books carefully matched to the phonics programme and will also access the school library for books within class. Pupils will choose books within their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) range to ensure that free reader books are matched to reading ability.

We use the Sounds-Write phonics programme to teach our children to read, spell and write.