At Roecliffe we recognise that language is at the heart of all we do. Without it we can not communicate our knowledge, ideas and feelings, or structure and make sense of our experiences; in this sense, language is a tool for both our thinking and learning. It is therefore vital that we provide all children with the very better experiences and opportunities in order for them to develop their speaking and listening and writing skills fully.
Have a look at our for Autumn writing masterpieces (1)
Here are our amazing Spring writing masterpieces
Click here to view the English National Curriculum.
Reading
We LOVE reading at Roecliffe! Because its is such an essential life skill, we positively encourage all children to read on a daily basis in a variety of contexts. We also recognise that ‘Reading for Pleasure’ it a vital component in ensuring that all children become lifelong readers. We recognise and teach the two dimensions of reading – word reading and comprehension through a carefully planned and dynamic curriculum.
Phonics
We have chosen Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised as our systematic, synthetic phonics programme to teach early reading and spelling. Phonics is taught daily from the very beginning in Reception and small group reading practise sessions are timetabled for three times a week.
- We ensure the teaching of phonics is systematic and consistent across school. The lessons are always taught at a fast pace to ensure children are highly engaged for the sessions.
- Teaching extends beyond ‘dedicated time’ and is applied and reinforced when appropriate throughout day. Teaching of the programme is evident across all curriculum areas and in EYFS/KS1 provision.
- Children’s decodable reading books are carefully matched to their phonic knowledge and which do not require use of alternative strategies. These books are organised in the given sequence in our chosen SSP programme i.e. reading books build letter-sound correspondences cumulatively, therefore children’s reading books are fully decodable at child’s current level to aid fluency. Additionally, children have the opportunity to choose a book of choice from the Hive every week to share at home with an adult.
- Parents are helped to know how best to support children in learning sounds through our phonics workshops throughout the year.
- Any child who needs extra support has daily keep-up sessions planned for them.
Click here for resources and videos to help you support your child to say the letters and sounds correctly.
Guided Reading
Guided Reading is an approach to reading that supports children to develop not only their reading skills but also their comprehension skills. Over the course of a week, children will participate in a variety of reading learning experiences which might include: pre-read of a text, work with the class teacher, work with a TA, exploring the language used in a text and time to complete individual activities. As a school, we plan guided reading questions around: a whole text linked to the class theme; on poetry where we compare and contrast authors; and on high quality non-fiction texts.
Reading through the curriculum
At Roecliffe, we recognise the importance of developing reading skills and understanding through all areas of the curriculum. We also understand the importance of ensuring that children enjoy reading and have a passion for books. We try and achieve this in a number of ways:
-
Share books and reading to the children daily through a class reader
- Introducing children to a wide range of genres and developing book talk in the classroom
- Using other medias such as music, pictures or videos to reinforce reading skills
- Allowing regular opportunities for children to visit ‘The Hive’ to choose a book and read comfortably
- Providing a range of books the children can choose to read from
Writing
Our teaching of writing starts with immersion in quality texts. We believe that it is essential that children see what good writing looks like. If they love reading it then children are more likely to want to write it! We use a range of techniques depending on the learning outcomes. For example, children could be detectives hunting for an aspect of grammar, or they could become one of the characters in a drama activity.
Children are taught specific skills throughout this stage of the writing process but also take part in discreet lessons to teach them grammar or punctuation skills.
Children are then taught how to plan and write their own texts using the specific skills taught. Teachers will model and scaffold the writing to help children write independently.
Children are given a range of opportunities to apply their writing knowledge across the curriculum ; every lesson can be an English lesson!
Spelling
We believe that becoming an accurate speller is an essential life skill and that confident spellers with a fluent handwriting style are free to concentrate on composition. We use a consistent approach to the teaching of spelling throughout Roecliffe. We follow Little Wandle Revised phonics programme in Reception and Year 1. In Years 2 to 6, we follow the No Nonsense spelling scheme which provides multiple and meaningful exposures to spellings. It focuses on the teaching of spelling knowledge and conventions, patterns and rules and the learning of spellings such as statutory words, common exception words and personal spellings.
Click on the links for the Autumn spelling overviews for each class-
Click on the links for the Spring spelling overviews for each class-
Click on the links for the Summer spelling overviews for each class-