Subject information

   

 

 

 

 

Whole class reading structure

VIPER whole class reading sessions take place 4 times a week for 15-20 minutes, these are additional to our English lessons. Sessions may vary depending on the needs of the children but there is a general rule that each VIPER is worked on over a term and any additional time is spent focusing on gaps in the children’s learning or revisiting where needed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recording and assessment during VIPERS sessions

We encourage children to orally talk through their answers and ensure it is the best they can give before writing anything down. We also acknowledge it is good for children to also be able to formally record an answer because it is already second nature when statutory assessments come along. Children can do this in a variety of different ways such as discussing the answer first with peers and/or an adult and then writing their best answer, working individually and then editing their answer accordingly after discussion or orally discussing 1 or 2 of the questions and writing down the others working individually.

Home reading

We work in partnership with parents, so pupils develop a love of books and reading. Daily reading at home and at school ensures children make good progress in developing reading skills, whatever their age/stage. Encouraging children to read widely, in and out of school, across both fiction and non-fiction, helps to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. At Boughton we have designed bespoke reading records to try and support children and their parents with reading at home.

 

 

 

 

 

Phonics

Intent

At Boughton Primary School we believe that the teaching of Phonics plays a vital role in teaching children to read, write and spell. We follow the ‘Sounds-Write’ Phonics Scheme which is a high-quality program that is endorsed by the Department for Education. Our aim is for the vast majority of children to be confident readers by the end of Key Stage 1. High quality Phonics teaching enables children to decode new words confidently and independently and leads to improved understanding. This will enable the children to read for pleasure and develop their comprehension skills. Sounds-Write phonics also teaches children how to spell words and help them to become confident writers.

Objectives

The main objective of the teaching and learning of Phonics is to enable all children to access reading and writing at an age-appropriate level. This is best achieved when there is:

• A consistent whole school approach to the teaching of Phonics throughout Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2.
• Rigorous planning, assessment, and tracking.
• Sufficient training provided to enable the implementation of Sounds-Write based teaching of Phonics by all teaching staff involved in the teaching of Phonics.

 

Sounds-Write has four key concepts that must be followed. They are:

1. Letters are symbols or spellings that represent sounds from left to right, across the page
2. A sound can be spelt with 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters
3. The same sound can be spelled in more than one way
4. Many spellings can represent more than one sound

Sounds-Write is a quality first Phonics Programme that offers the classroom teacher an instructional method that works because it is a structured, multi-sensory, progressive and co-ordinated approach to teaching children to read and spell. The principal attainment targets are:

• The majority of children to have completed the Initial code by the end of Foundation Stage.
• Higher achieving children (in Foundation stage and KS1) to be identified and moved through the planning progression at a more rapid pace.
• The majority of Year 1 children to pass the Year 1 Phonics Screening test.
• The majority of children to have completed the Extended code by the end of KS1.
• All children who did not meet these targets in KS1 to continue to follow the Sounds-Write programme in KS2.

Children failing to meet the principal attainment targets will receive targeted intervention which will be tracked and monitored.

 

 

 

 

Implementation

Planning

The teaching of Phonics in Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2 (for those who did not meet the attainment targets by the end of KS1) will be planned in accordance with our Phonics Policy and will include:

• Daily instruction in dedicated phonic lessons.
• Lessons planned by the class teacher using the Sounds-Write programme.
• Intervention groups which target the needs and ability of the children and make effective use of support staff.
• Appropriately-paced lessons that provide children with suitable tasks to demonstrate their learning using the Sounds-Write support materials.

Planning should reflect and build upon children’s prior learning. Staff must ensure that all children are given sufficient exposure to the letter sound correspondences that will be presented to them in the Year 1 phonics screening assessment, where children must use their phonic knowledge to correctly read 40 words; both real and nonsense words. If the children do not achieve the allotted pass rate, they will receive targeted intervention before re-taking the test in Year 2. Children will be matched to an appropriate book level that matches their phonic knowledge. For children learning the Initial code, Sounds-Write and Dandelion reading books will be used alongside other appropriate phonic based reading schemes. For children learning the Extended code Sounds-Write and Dandelion reading books will be used to help children practise and consolidate their phonics skills.

 

 

 

 

Teaching and learning

• The approach to the teaching of phonics across EYFS & KS1 will be consistent; and show progression of skills and knowledge.
• When teaching a new sound spelling, ensure children are seeing how the sounds are represented in written form through adult modelling and through opportunities to practice writing in the air and on whiteboards. In addition, phonics based written work should to be recorded in books on a regular basis.
• Ensure every lesson gives children opportunities to see, say, blend and segment sounds spellings to make words and also to practise writing words.
• Use fingers to segment sounds and make sure you show the blend.
• Children to be taught as a whole class with Teaching Assistants used to support children within the lesson – keep up before catch up.
• Interventions will be delivered by trained staff to consolidate learning and challenge misconceptions.

Management

The Phonics Leader will monitor and evaluate the planning and teaching of Phonics within the school thorough observations, learning walks, scrutiny of work, displays and on-going discussions with class teachers. All teachers and Teaching Assistants will receive Sounds-Write training to ensure that lesson delivery is a high quality and consistent with the School Phonics Policy.

 

 

 

 

 

Writing

Intent

Our aim at Boughton Primary School is that all pupils should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their speaking and writing and discover that through their reading, others can communicate with them. Our aim is for children to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school. We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. All good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in writing and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress. We want children to acquire an interest and excitement in words and their meanings, enriching their expressive language use and enhancing their vocabulary. Our goal is to inspire children’s imagination and ignite their curiosity, opening the door to a lifelong enjoyment of literature and language.  

Implementation

Within the Early Years Foundation Stage, writing is taught through the ‘Communication and Language’ and ‘Literacy’ areas of learning. The ‘Physical Development’ strand also ensures that the children are provided with plentiful opportunities to build up the muscle strength they need to enable them to hold a pencil with control. Children in Reception are taught spelling, and the conventions of a sentence through daily Sounds Write phonics lessons. Through the use of our checkpoints and our carefully planned provision, children in EYFS will develop the required skills to ensure they are Year One ready.

From Year 1, we begin each year by teaching the children the Place Value of Punctuation and Grammar. This ensures that they have a strong basis for their learning in the upcoming year, providing a deep and thorough understanding of what makes a sentence. This allows them to build on this learning throughout the year, and apply their knowledge of grammar and punctuation to correct their writing, and write towards age related expectations.

We use Talk for Writing strategies to support the teaching of writing from Year 1 through to Year 6. Across school, we have a bank of quality model texts which are written towards age related expectations. These ensure that children are repeatedly exposed to genres as they move throughout the school, but as they are written towards age related expectations, they become more challenging in their vocabulary, punctuation, and sentence structure. Where the children have sufficient background knowledge that has been taught through other lessons such as history and science, the texts are written to provide cross curricular links. This gives children the opportunity to share and embed their knowledge of topics such as World War II or the digestive system, while focussing on the literacy skills they need to communicate this knowledge effectively. Other texts are written based on stories children have read, or studied during reading lessons.

We teach English as whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. Within lessons, teachers target support for children who need it to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as word banks or a greater level of modelling. High attaining children are given opportunities to extend their writing in a variety of ways, including through showing greater control in their writing, a deeper understanding of the impact that their writing has on the reader and by using a higher level of vocabulary and grammar features. 

 

From Reception to Year 2, spelling is taught through daily Sounds Write lessons. From Year 1, spellings are also taught according to the rules and words contained in Appendix 1 of the English National Curriculum.

 

Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through English lessons. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing outcome. Teachers sometimes focus on particular grammar and punctuation skills as stand-alone lessons if they feel that the class need additional lessons to embed and develop their understanding or to consolidate skills. 

 

We use Kinetic Letters to teach handwriting from Reception. By the end of Key Stage 2 all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes. Pupils experience coherence and continuity in the learning and teaching of handwriting across all school years and are encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their work. The programme has four threads: making bodies stronger, holding the pencil, learning the letters and flow and fluency.

For children who experience handwriting difficulties due to fine motor development, including those who are left-handed and those with special educational needs, the appropriate additional support will be put into place in the form of interventions.

Children will be assessed using the National Curriculum objectives for their year group throughout the year. Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine whether a child is working within age-related expectations, above or below. They will base their judgements on the quality of writing that pupils produce at the end of each unit, and determine to what extent pupils have met the agreed success criteria for that genre of writing. Teachers will refer to the Teacher Assessment frameworks.