English
In this section of the website, you will find information about our approach to teaching English at Ferryhill Station Primary School.
The English curriculum comprises the inter-related areas of:
- Speaking and Listening
- Reading
- Writing
Speaking and Listening
Speaking and listening are at the heart of children’s learning. Children need to be confident communicators and careful listeners in order to learn about the world in which they live. Language skills are crucial to access the curriculum and before children can read and write they need to be confident in their speaking and listening skills.
Through taking part in a wide range of activities in both Literacy lessons and throughout the wider curriculum, we support children in developing the ability to speak with confidence and clarity. We encourage them to develop their understanding of new words and enjoy using language to share ideas and communicate with their peers and adults. We want our children to be increasingly able to choose the most appropriate ways to speak in different situations and to different audiences. Children will have the opportunity to take part in drama sessions, class discussions and circle times, performing in assemblies and concerts, all of which help develop their speaking skills. We also encourage our children to be active listeners, learning from others and responding to the ideas of their peers and adults.
English – Progression of Skills
Reading
At Ferryhill Station Primary, we want reading to be a positive and rewarding experience for every child and we aim to support our children in developing a long- lasting pleasure for reading. Children need to be able to read to access learning in all other subjects and the teaching of reading remains a priority.
In line with the National Curriculum, we teach children to develop their skills in:
- word reading and fluency
- comprehension
Phonics
Little Wandle
Our aim is to support every child in becoming a fluent and successful reader. We believe that a strong and consistent approach to the teaching of phonics is vital for our children to learn to read and spell accurately. The teaching of reading begins with our youngest pupils. We support Nursery and Reception children in tuning into the sounds around them and developing an awareness that letters represent sounds which go together to make words.
We use the scheme 'Little Wandle' to teach phonics and early reading and we follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress. We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible.
Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Rapid Catch-up assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Rapid Catch-up resources – at pace.
Each week, children will bring home a decodable reading practice book, to ensure success is shared with the family. Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children. We share the research behind the importance and impact of sharing quality children’s books with parents through workshops, leaflets and the Everybody read! We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision, both online and through workshops.
Every teacher in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectations of progress. We all use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load.
Reading Lessons - Success for All
Success for All (SfA) – 'Success for All' Wings Reading Programme is used in school to teach fluency and comprehension skills. The main aim of Wings is to give children a love of reading and create fluent and confident readers by the end of Year 6, well-able to clarify and question a range of texts. Wings reading lessons support and challenge children at all stages of reading development, including more competent readers. It develops their skills through reading a wide range of carefully selected literature including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We use this approach for our reading lessons, using whole novels to progress skills in reading on a daily basis. This programme runs from Year 2 to Year 6 and follows on from the phonics scheme, once children are secure in decoding and are reading with a good level of automaticity.
Home Reading
We recognise that parents and carers play an important role in encouraging children’s interest in books and helping them practise word reading skills. We aim to engage parents and develop their understanding of how they can support their child’s learning at home. Parents are invited to a Reading Meeting when their child joins us in Reception and thereafter in KS1. During this, our phonics approach will be explained and parents are given guidance about how to support their child with their reading at home.
Children take home a reading book at a level in which they are able to decode most words. Along with this, pupils take home a reading record. In this, parents can then pass on information about their child’s reading to the class teacher.
Foundation Stage children have access to a library, comprising a range of attractive and enjoyable picture books that they can take home to read with their families. To promote reading for pleasure, children in Key Stages One and Two also bring home books that they have chosen themselves from a selection of library books written by a wide range of authors. Key Stage Two Reading Buddies, trained by staff, support younger pupils in developing their reading skills and interest in books.
KS2 Independent Reading Books
From Key Stage 2 onwards, children use ‘Accelerated Reader’ to track progress and ensure they are accessing books of an appropriate reading level. Online ‘Star’ tests identify children’s current reading levels and guide children to choose books at the correct level. On completing books, children take a short comprehension quiz to check their understanding of what they are reading. Once they have completed 3 successful quiz scores of 60% or above, or they increase their ZPD score on a Star assessment, they will then move to the next level of book (in 0.1 increments).
Spelling
Once children are have reached an appropriate level in Read Write Inc phonics and have completed the Phonics Program there is a natural transition to the Read Write Inc Spelling Program which continues into Key Stage 2, supporting children in becoming confident and competent in their spelling of words.
At Key Stage 2, in addition to RWI Spelling, children also focus on the National Curriculum Word Lists for Years 3/4 and 5/6 to ensure coverage of spelling concepts. Children are given regular spelling tests and their progress is monitored.
Websites
Guides for parents can be viewed by clicking on the following links:
https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Writing
At Ferryhill Station Primary School, we stimulate children’s writing by using high-quality books and novels to set context. Alongside this, we teach the children the spelling, punctuation and grammar they need to know in order to be successful. In this school, when children complete their phonics programme, they further develop their spelling through focused Read Write Inc Spelling lessons. We encourage children to use books as a stimulus to develop their ideas for writing, editing as they go, so that they always submit their best work for teachers to mark. Please see our long term plans for more detail, where the coverage of genres for each year group has been mapped out across the curriculum.