English

Reading

We are passionate about children learning to read at Park Primary School. Over the seven years that your child is in our care, we aim for them to develop a love of reading and books so that they move from learning to read to reading to learn – and reading purely for enjoyment too!

Writing

At Park Primary we encourage all children to take pride in everything they do. From the moment our children begin their learning journey ‘presentation’ is a key focus. This is a skill they then have for life.

These are the main methods we use to teach children to read:

Phonics
At Park we follow a systematic synthetic phonics programme (Anima Phonics).  Phonics is taught daily in EYFS and Key Stage One classes in a rigorous and consistent way by class teachers. Additional phonics sessions are delivered to children who require additional support, once children are able to de-code they are then ready to access reading books. 
Reading
Each class teacher reads daily to their class from a range texts including poetry, rhymes, fiction and non-fiction. Children are exposed to rich vocabulary and a wide range of authors that will link with curriculum learning and inspire them to have a love of reading. 
 
In Key Stage One children take part in daily guided reading activities and have the opportunity to read in a small group with the class teacher, within these sessions children are taught how to read and are shown a variety of strategies to support them. Children acquire accurate and speedy decoding skills so they are able to access and comprehend texts. 
 
In Key Stage Two children are introduced to whole class reading which focuses on discussions, new vocabulary and broadens their comprehension skills. Texts are carefully selected by class teachers to ensure they are accessible but challenging and give children the opportunity to to explore a wide range of genre and authors. 
 
At Park we use Accelerated Reader across Key Stage Two, children are able to log on to MyOn at home or in school to quiz themselves based on the texts they have read, hence developing their comprehension skills. We have a board selection of books which are banned according to Accelerated Reader and accessible for children to choose themselves.  In Key Stage One books are banded to match the phonics level that the children are accessing. 
 
Our bespoke curriculum is packed with story and literature – each class has a core texted which they focus on over a half term, this text provides an opportunity to explore a Global Theme and will be used to develop language and vocabulary as well as promote a love of reading. 

These are the main methods we use to teach children to write:

Independent Writers

We encourage our children to become independent writers, communicating clearly with a sense of audience and purpose. A variety of texts are used to support modelling of effective writing. All year groups have access to a range resources and teachers are encouraged to use these to provide example texts as appropriate to their class’s curriculum needs.

Teaching Methods
In shared writing, the teacher models writing at age related expectations. This teaching is further developed in Guided Writing where the teacher works with a small group of children with a shared need. Teachers will deliberately plan opportunities for children to experience a range of outcomes from each unit: scaffolded writing, an independent piece (Independent Writing) and a piece from across the curriculum applying the skills.  We encourage children to independently apply the skills they are taught during shared sessions.
4 'B' Rules

All our children follow the  4 ‘B’ rules – Use your Brain, Use Bits and Bobs, ask your Buddy and finally when all else fails ask the Boss!

Where it all begins
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Children will begin the EYFS with a wide variety of writing skills ranging from simply making marks to writing their own name unaided. They will move from gross to finer motor skills using a variety of tactile methods. They need opportunities to make marks in their own way and to gradually refine these into recognisable patterns and eventually individual letters.

All EYFS staff, including support staff, must be aware of directionality and when children are showing a firm interest in writing their name, they should be encouraged to use correct directionality.

To aid co-ordination, sand trays and sticks (or fingers), paper, paint and large brushes, modelling materials, blackboards and chalk may be used. They will be taught the use of capital letters for names and beginning of sentences.

Marking
We also put a big emphasis on our Marking Policy, for consistency, to enforce next steps and accelerate learning.  All staff have clear guidelines and training on how to mark.  We have adopted the use of pink (perfect pink), green (growing green) marking  and the children respond in purple (polishing purple) to address any misconceptions and move their learning on. It is important that children are given adequate time to make the improvement and that the suggested improvement is going to improve the piece of work. Children at Park are proud of sharing their work and prefer immediate feedback. Often we improve work together and this has had a positive impact as children are putting in more effort and focusing on the positive achievements in their learning.
Celebration

We are so proud of our writing at Park Primary that we want to share it with the world!  Every week, two children from each class are chosen as ‘Authors of The Week’. Half termly competitions also give children the opportunity to become published authors as part of the ‘Young Authors’ initiative. Presentation is a key focus at Park and the children work hard to achieve a Pen Licence in KS2 and a Golden Pencil in KS1.

Useful Documents

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Glossery of Terms used in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Teaching
25 downloads96.52 KB
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Year 1 phonics screening
18 downloads47.61 KB
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How can I help my child with reading in Keystage 1
20 downloads1.30 MB

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