English
English skills are developed throughout the curriculum, covering all elements of speaking, listening, reading and writing. We aim to create an environment which is rich in language and in which staff model accurate language and vocabulary.
Reading at Regis
Our Curriculum Intent at Corsham Regis is embedded through developing reading skills and a love of reading that we teach our children.
How to communicate using appropriate vocabulary
In reading, the children are taught the importance of reading, both for enjoyment and for information. They need to feel comfortable around books and learn to develop their concentration and imagination. Children are also shown how reading is a necessary skill in our personal lives. The teaching of reading at Corsham Regis actively encourages and promotes pupil interaction through talking, in pairs, groups and with the teacher. Pupil talk and use of vocabulary is supported by the use of classroom working walls, which display key vocabulary/Wow words, being taught. They support the children by providing, where appropriate, sentence stems to enable all children to gain confidence when talking about their learning.
See sentence stems appendix 1
About Corsham and the local area
Where possible, teachers embed the children’s learning through the different cross curricular topics. Examples include texts linked to the termly topics either as a whole class book where strong links are made with writing or more fact retrieval texts to further develop their knowledge and understanding of the topic.
Through experience inside and beyond the classroom
Children are encouraged to read in school and at home. In KS1, children have a reading record book where communication is promoted. A whole school reading incentive of collecting ribbons for each book read is in place and is visually promoting a love and interest in reading. Every year, as a whole school we go to town on World Book Day where the staff dress up in a chosen theme and the children come dressed as a character from their favourite book. The day is spent celebrating and promoting our love of reading.
The main reading scheme used at Corsham Regis is the Oxford Reading Tree. Reading skills are taught through the Read Write Inc phonics scheme, which is an inclusive literacy programme for all children learning to read from Foundation Stage to Year 4.
New knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age
The children are taught the National Curriculum for each year group. The focus of the skills which are taught are decided by careful question level analysis, from PiXL tests, to identify gaps in the children’s understanding. Sequences of learning are planned for using a whole school planning approach with a clear daily focus and structure.
How to keep themselves safe
When using the internet to access reading resources, children are encouraged to search safely and use child friendly sites such as Swiggle. Children are also taught the importance of keeping their personal information safe, such as passwords and log in details. During lessons, children have access to a wide range of resources to support their learning and are taught to respect resources.
Writing at Regis
Our Curriculum Intent at Corsham Regis is embedded in the writing skills that we teach our children.
How to communicate using appropriate vocabulary
At Corsham Regis, our aim is for all our children to develop a genuine love of language and the written word and this is encouraged from Reception. Children are encouraged to write for an audience and develop their skills in a variety of different forms through topics and other curriculum areas.
In making explicit links between Speaking & Listening and Writing skills we purposefully plan to help all pupils know more, remember more and understand more. Teachers promote this through the use of classroom working walls, which display key vocabulary, different grammatical components of a sentence and text models, and appropriate Talk for Writing strategies developed by the author Pie Corbett following staff training.
Talk for Writing starts with enjoying and sharing stories. Throughout the school, we place a strong emphasis on children reading stories and enjoying a range of literature. Through regular reading, we intend for children to build up an extensive and rich vocabulary for use in their own writing.
Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar is taught as part of our wider English curriculum with opportunities to embed and practise during our writing lessons. Spellings are taught through a PiXL (Partners in Excellence) programme in school.
All our writing topics begin with a Cold Write, which is a piece of writing completed independently prior to learning the genre. At the end of the topic the children complete a Hot Write to demonstrate all they have learned.
See English appendix 1- Spelling
See English appendix 2 – Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
About Corsham and the local area
Where possible, teachers embed the children’s learning through the different cross curricular topics. Examples include children writing reports and fact files about the history of their local area as well as non-chronological reports and persuasive writing linked to the geography of Corsham. Links are made with reading to further develop their knowledge and understanding of the topic.
Through experiences inside and beyond the classroom
Children are encouraged to learn outside, particularly in FS2 and Year 1 and encouraged to write about their learning. Every term a profound learning opportunity, linked to the topic they are learning about, is planned for the children. This links together their topic learning with their reading and writing skills.
The main scheme used at Corsham Regis to embed early reading and writing skills is taught through the Read Write Inc phonics scheme, which is an inclusive phonics programme for all children learning to read from Foundation Stage to Year 4 and combines reading and writing skills.
New knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age
The children are taught the National Curriculum for each year group with the genre of writing linking to their topic. Writing and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) trackers, combined with PiXL SPaG test outcomes, are used to not only track progress but also to identify gaps in the children’s understanding, where a bespoke curriculum is then taught.
How to keep themselves safe
When using the internet as a resource to communicate, research and present writing content, children are encouraged to search safely and use child friendly sites such as Swiggle. Children are also taught the importance of keeping their personal information save, such as passwords and log in details. During lessons, children have access to a wide range of concrete resources to support their writing composition skills and are taught to respect resources and use these safely.
Phonics at Corsham Regis
At Corsham Regis Primary Academy we use Read Write Inc. Phonics as the basis for teaching the children their letters and words. This is broken down into 3 main elements;
- Speed Sounds Sets 1, 2 & 3
Set 1: m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h sh r j v y w th z ch q x ng nk
Set 2: ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy
Set 3: a-e ea i-e o-e u-e aw are ur er ow ai oa ew ire ear ure tious tion
The children:
- Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
- Learn to read words using sound blending
- Learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds
- Learn to write words by saying the sounds and letter names
- Ditties & Storybooks
Once the children can read and blend all the Set 1 sounds into words, e.g. cat, hot, big, they can read simple phrases (Ditties), then storybooks.
The phonic knowledge required to read each Ditty or storybook is taught before the story is read. When you read the stories you forget you are reading a text with a strong phonetic structure. The language is natural and fluent and each story has a clear shape. Humour is a strong feature – children will want to read the books again and again.
The children:
- Read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
- Show that they comprehend the stores by answering ‘Find it’ and ‘Prove it’ discussion questions
- Get writing! Books
The Get Writing! Books help children use their phonic knowledge to:
- Write simple sentences
- Compose stories based on picture strips
- Compose a range of texts using discussion prompts
The children are assessed for the programme by Mrs Stone every term (6 x a year) and children are put into the best-fit group for their stage of learning, regardless of age.