At St. Stephen's, we aim to develop children's abilities within an integrated programme of Speaking & Listening, Reading & Writing and Phonics. Our children will be given opportunities to make links between the requirements of English as a subject in its own right, and its importance in all subjects within our broad and balanced curriculum. As a result, they will be provided with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills across a wide range of subjects. Through quality first teaching and using high quality texts, which are vocabulary rich, we aim to promote our children’s self-confidence and self-expression with reading and the written word. We work towards national standards of achievement and assessment in speaking and listening, writing and reading and phonics. Our assessment for learning, along with national testing, enables us to identify any areas of strength children have or where more support is required for our children to make progress.
At St Stephen’s C.E. School we strive for children to be a ‘Primary Literate Pupil’
Where they should be able to:
enjoy reading and writing with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies to self-review and correct.
develop a love books and read for enjoyment
enjoy words, discover their meanings; develop a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms.
know about a range of text types and genres and write in a variety of styles and forms for purpose and pleasure.
develop their powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.
know the technical vocabulary that matches the skills they are using.
At Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2), children learn to speak confidently and listen to what others have to say. They begin to read and write independently and with enthusiasm. They use language to explore their own experiences and imaginary worlds.
At Key Stage Two (Years 3-6), children learn to change the way they speak and write to suit different situations, purposes and audiences. They read a range of high quality texts and respond to different layers of meaning within them. They explore the use of language in literary and non-literary texts and learn how the structure of language works.
The English Curriculum is delivered using the Lancashire Literacy Planning Units and in line with the National Curriculum guidance. The Early learning Goals are followed to ensure continuity and progression from the Foundation Stage through to the National Curriculum. Pupils are taught against age related expectations - with gaps in understanding identified and targeted for additional support through quality first teaching or intervention as necessary.
Work is differentiated through a variety of approaches - additional support, levels of work, resources and outcome. Where children are working well below age related expectations, or have identified language needs, work will be differentiated to meet individual needs.
Long term curriculum map lay out a yearly overview to ensure coverage of fiction, non-fiction and poetry using high quality texts with rich vocabulary at their core.
Medium term plans will include Key learning indicators (KLIPs).
A planning format is provided for staff to use for more detailed weekly planning.
St Stephens we work hard to ensure that a love of language and Literacy is at the heart of all we do.
We teach children to read using our Bug Club Phonic scheme. We plan daily sessions that last between 20-40 minutes.
Children read in school daily individually or as a group. They are encouraged to read again to an adult in the evening as ‘homework’. This consistency helps children to develop their reading skills and to become confident readers from an early age. Reading is such a special time!
Our curriculum ensures that the children also enjoy daily Literacy sessions with a book as a focus. We always end our day with a class reading session. .
In small groups, the children work on focused activities and start looking at story structures, identifying the beginning, middle and end of a story and comprehension of the text. They also focus on phonic work, learning how to recognise and sound out each letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case, and learn how to build and blend.
Writing in the Early Years should always be meaningful; children should always have a purpose to write. Our curriculum ensures that children are given a range of daily opportunities to write. The children develop their gross and fine motor skills through a variety of fun activities. This helps with the coordination and strength required to grip a pencil correctly and to form letters. We teach the children how to write in a cursive style in discrete lessons.
The children are expected use and apply their knowledge of phonics to write simple words, explore patterns and identify rhyming sounds. They are encouraged to write independently for a variety of different purposes, for example: lists, letters, stories and poems.