Rationale

We aim to develop pupils’ abilities within an integrated programme of Speaking & Listening, Reading, Writing & Vocabulary. Pupils will experience a broad and balanced approach to the teaching of English across the curriculum, with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills. 

English encompasses so many crucial elements of life in the modern world. The study of English is key to our personal development and, through the learning and progression of effective written and spoken communication, it is the foundation for all our learning.  

Greet Primary School firmly believes that the teaching of our English curriculum will be inclusive to all children, inspiring them through a detailed, well thought-out curriculum, which will enable them to make good progress.

The ability to read well is essential to a child’s success at school.  “If children cannot read well, they will not be able to access the curriculum and will be disadvantaged for life” (Ofsted, 2019, p.25).  Furthermore, evidence suggests that there is a positive correlation between reading for pleasure, reading frequency and reading attainment (Clark, 2011; Clark and Douglas, 2011 cited in DfE, 2012).

For this reason, we:

  • prioritise the teaching of reading to ensure all children can read age-appropriate texts with fluency and accuracy by the time they leave the school;

  • develop children’s attitudes towards reading so they leave the school with a genuine interest in and enjoyment of reading.

Our approach

Phonics:

In line with research and government recommendations, we teach systematic, synthetic phonics (SSP) to support word recognition, but only as part of a rich early reading experience. 

At Greet, we use the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme from the summer term in Nursery, day one in Reception right through to the end of the spring term in Year 2.  Pupils that do not complete the phonics programme by the end of the spring term in Year 2 remain in a phonics group to ensure they reaching the required level.

For pupils in Key Stage Two who need additional support due to gaps in phonic understanding, or for those who are new to learning English, we use the Read Write Inc. Fresh Start programme.

The Read Write Inc. (RWI) programme is underpinned by the following principles:

  • discrete and daily teaching of sounds, word reading and common exception words;
  • discrete and daily teaching of letter formation, spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary;
  • practice with books and texts that match grapheme/phoneme correspondences that children know;
  • development of children’s oracy skill;
  • learning applied across the curriculum;
  • within a rich language environment that promotes a love of reading: stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction.

Comprehension Skills:

Once pupil’s word recognition skills have been developed through the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme they move on to develop their comprehension skills through exploration of texts. We teach comprehension skills through daily story time (EYFS and KS1) and whole class reading lessons (Years 3 - 6.)