English
At St Alfege with St Peter's we aim to ensure that all pupils:
- Read fluently and with good understanding.
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, spell accurately and have a secure understanding of grammar.
- Write clearly, accurately and coherently across a range of genres.
- Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening.
Phonics
At St. Alfege with St. Peter’s Primary CE School we believe that all children should have the opportunity to become fluent readers and writers. We follow the Little Wandle, Letters and Sounds Revise
d programme which is a Systematic and Synthetic Phonics programme (SSP). Daily phonics lessons take place in reception, year 1 and year 2 to teach crucial early reading and writing skills. These sessions follow a set structure which enables children to revisit and review previous phonics learning, learn to read and write new phonemes (sounds), graphemes (letters), tricky words and then practise and apply these through reading and writing words and sentences.
Children are assessed regularly and read fully decodable books which are chosen according to their most recent phonics assessment. All children will take part in at least 3 guided reading sessions a week where they are review and apply the reading skills they have learnt in their phonics lessons.
Children are taught phonics in phases starting from phase 2 to phase 5. We start teaching phase 2 in Reception class and complete phase 5 by the end of year 1. If a child is identified as requiring additional phonics teaching, they will also be taught in a daily phonics group which is additional to the main lesson.
We teach Little Wandle Foundations in Nursery from the beginning of the January term. This is because research tells us that children will become better readers if they can recognise and play around with language: by hearing and recognising rhyming words, hearing and identifying syllables within words, hearing and saying the first sound that words begin with and hearing and saying the sounds within a word e.g. c-a-t is cat. We also ensure children in Nursey, Reception and Year 1 take part in daily story and rhyme sessions.
Click here to visit the Little Wandle website for a range of resources that can be used at home to help children say their sounds and write their letters. You will also find videos that show how phonics is taught at school.
Reading
We aim to promote a love of reading through access to a wide range of quality texts and to give children the skills to be curious, enthusiastic and critical life-long readers.
In Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, early reading is supported by the use of fully decodable books that clearly progress up through the phonics phases. Children have lots of chance to practise reading throughout the day both in taught sessions, continuous provision and through targeted 1:1 reading or interventions. We regularly asses our children’s phonetical awareness and ability to make sure they are reading at the correct level. Children must be confident in the graphemes and exception words for a book band before they start reading that colour.
We use Accelerated Reader to support the development of reading in KS2 and for those children who are ready for it in KS1.
Children in Years 3 to 6 participate in whole class guided reading sessions which focus on the learning of comprehension skills. These skills allow children to fully appreciate and engage with texts they choose for themselves or texts that form part of their learning. We encourage all children to read for pleasure and the Accelerated Reading programme supports us to do this by allowing children to practise and apply comprehension skills through a range of texts across a variety of interest and genre which include quality picture books and children’s classics. Children are also encouraged to read outside of the programme texts such as newspapers, poetry books or brand new publications.
All classes take part in daily Read Together sessions. For the younger children this is a whole picture book or part of a non-fiction book. For the older children this is a chapter of the class novel. Once a week classes enjoy poems together instead of their class book.
We want our children to love books and reading as much as we do!
Recommended books to choose at the library
Writing
In Foundation Stage, children are valued as early writers. They are encouraged to use mark making to enrich their play and are taught explicit writing skills in regular adult-led sessions.
In Years 1 to 6, children learn to write a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar lessons help learners to produce technically accurate writing. These skills are taught alongside more creative aspects to ensure ideas are communicated effectively and legibly.
Children are encouraged to write as writers, thinking about the process of crafting a text – planning, writing, editing and publishing.
'Power of Reading’ (CLPE), ‘Talk for Writing’ (Pie Corbett) and ‘The Literacy Curriculum’ (Literacy Tree) are used to deliver the writing curriculum.
