English, Reading and Writing

At EWPA we want to foster and develop in all our children a genuine love of reading. We teach reading in a variety of ways across the school using Whole Class Reading, OTTER (Own Time To Enjoy Reading), Talk through Stories and SFA Phonics. 

Every class across the school has access to a well-resourced book area, containing a wide variety of written material. Teachers read regularly to the children from challenging and interesting novels which expose children to rich language and classic stories which may otherwise be too challenging to read independently.

A home-school reading system runs throughout the school. There is an expectation that all children read a book at the appropriate level for them, for an age appropriate period of time per day. Our children have access to a wide variety of books which are banded by stages so that children are able to select a book independently.

In Key Stage 1, the children have access to a whole range of books which are matched to their phonic acquisition.

In Key Stage 2, there is a well-stocked library that children are able to visit to select their reading book as required, once they have completed 20 reads. This is closely monitored by the English lead.

There is also a wider reading incentive reward across each of the Key Stages. In KS1, children are encouraged as a class to record the number of books they have read during the week, these are then reported and during the weekly celebration assembly and the winning class wins the reading reward. In KS2, the number of reads a class attains in a half term is counted and a reward is then given to the winning class.

Alongside this, there are author visits, book fairs, World Book Day and reading ambassadors.

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write by developing their phonemic awareness – the ability to hear, identify and manipulate different sounds used in the English language. Children learn the correspondence between these sounds (phonemes) and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. At EWPA we place great emphasis on the teaching of phonics in the early years of reading and writing in order to give our children a strong foundation for learning. In addition to teaching phonics, we also teach ‘tricky’ and high frequency words, these are words that do not comply to the rules of phonics, we teach these words by repetition and retrieval.

Phonic lessons

Phonics is taught daily at EWPA from Nursery up to Year 2. Phonics lessons are short, engaging and memorable with an emphasis on revising previously learned letter-sound correspondence, learning a new one, practising this and then applying it to word and sentence level work. We use SFA phonics, validated by DfE programme. This is based upon the Letters and Sounds progression with a clear structure of six phases that include reading, writing and spelling.

By the end of EYFS, we expect our children to be secure to phase 4. By the end of Year 1, our children should be secure in phase 5, the alternative spelling of previously learned sounds and then in Year 2 they should be refining their knowledge through phase 6 to become more fluid readers and more accurate spellers.

The Phonic Screening Check

During the Summer term in Year 1, our children along with all children nationwide, are tested on their phonic knowledge. This test helps us to identify children who have gaps in their phonic knowledge and may need further support as they move to Year 2. The test is low key and we ensure that it is stress-free for our children. During the test, children are asked to read 40 words from a list, using their phonic knowledge to ‘sound them out’ and then blend them (if they need) to read the word. Parents are informed at the end of the academic year as to whether their child has achieved the national expectation. Any child who does not meet the expectation, will repeat the test in Year 2.

In all year groups, we teach writing through the wider curriculum using high quality texts, immersive real life experiences or a combination of both. Our children apply their writing skills across the curriculum, for example: writing up experiments and investigations in Science, recounting events in History and describing processes in Geography.

Over their time in school, our children will write a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts, including recounts, news reports, explanation texts, persuasion texts, poems, plays and stories of all kinds. We use drama, role-play, storytelling, discussion and debate to engage and develop our children’s imagination, before moving on to vocabulary development and exploration, sentence structure and creative writing.

Throughout the Early Years and Key Stage 1 our children are taught the key principles of writing in order to lay a solid foundation for developing their skills later on. There is a strong emphasis on developing clear handwriting, with correctly formed letters and ‘finger spaces’ between each word. Our children are taught to apply their knowledge of phonics to help them spell accurately, and to structure their work according to what they are writing, from writing a set of instructions to creating a diary entry based on a historical event. Our curriculum teaches our children to add variation and description into their writing by developing vocabulary, using a variety of interesting adjectives and adverbs and developing sentence structure using conjunctions and sentence openers. By the end of Key Stage 1 children have been taught the fundamentals of punctuation and grammar. This structural and technical knowledge is embedded alongside developing an enjoyment of writing as a lifelong means of communication and expression.

This process continues into Key Stage 2, by which time children have mastered simple sentence structure enabling them to develop their writing style. As they progress through Key Stage 2, children are taught to write for a range of purposes – to entertain, to inform, to explain, to persuade and to discuss – using explicit sentence models and ambitious vocabulary. They learn to shape these sentences into coherent paragraphs before planning and creating their own original works of fiction and non-fiction.

Handwriting, Spelling and Grammar

At EWPA, we use and follow the ‘Teach Handwriting’ guide. Handwriting is taught a minimum of three times per week. Correct handwriting formation is modelled by the class teacher. In Year 2, the expectation for our children is that those who are ready will be taught to form cursive joins in their writing in preparation for Key Stage 2 where cursive handwriting is expected from the majority of the children. Children who have developed legible and fluent handwriting will be rewarded with a handwriting pen.

Spelling in EYFS and Key Stage 1, are incorporated in the daily phonic sessions. In addition, spellings are sent home and practised and applied in a variety of ways in class on a regular basis throughout the week. Spelling tests begin in Year 2.

In Key Stage 2, spellings are taught regularly following the school’s spelling policy. These are practised regularly through handwriting, interactive lessons and writing activities that provide children with opportunities to edit their work and practise their spellings in context. Spellings are also sent home across the whole Key Stage and are tested at the end of the week.

In Nursery and Reception, our children are introduced to the basic principles of grammar and punctuation that is appropriate for their age. They learn through a wide range of activities such as singing rhymes, conversations with adults, stories, phonics, reading and guided writing opportunities.

In Key Stage 1 and 2, formal grammar and punctuation lessons take place. During their reading lessons and practise, children are encouraged to be critical thinkers and observe how authors manipulate grammar and punctuation to impact the reader and add effect. This is especially the focus during fluency sessions.  In writing, children use SPaG books to record their learning of grammar and punctuation concepts from Year 2 to Year 6. This allows them to practise and apply what they have learned into their writing pieces.