English

English

English lead for KS 2 is  Miss Lawrence

English lead for KS 1 is Mrs Darby

English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction and media texts. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns and structures. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations.

Our objectives in the teaching of English at Cradley C of E Primary School are:

• to enable children to speak clearly and audibly, and to take account of their listeners;
• to encourage children to listen with concentration, in order to identify the main points of what they have heard;
• to show children how to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands;
• to teach children effective communication, both verbal and non-verbal, through a variety of drama activities;
• to help children become confident, independent readers, through focus on word, sentence and text-level knowledge;
• to develop enthusiastic and reflective readers, through contact with a broad range of texts.
• to foster the enjoyment of writing, and a recognition of its value;
• to encourage accurate and meaningful writing, both in narrative or non-fiction form;
• to improve the planning, drafting and editing of their written work.
   

Reading

At Cradley CE we keep our vision at the heart of all our curriculum decisions.  We believe that for ‘every child’ to have 'every chance’, the ability to read confidently and fluently is essential. In living out our vision, we aim for every child to grow up with a love of reading and good reading habits. As a result, reading is a priority. We aim to share our love of reading with every child and keep it at the heart of our English curriculum.

English units are built around key texts, which include fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Each day staff read aloud to children for pleasure, sharing new books as well as old favourites. Book weeks and theatre visits help us to bring stories alive to the children and children visit the library to choose books. We hold family books sessions to encourage children and parents to read at home together.

Children take home a reading book.  We have several reading schemes we use in school to ensure a broad and interesting curriculum. We use Oxford Reading Tree (Floppy Phonics, Decode and Develop, Fireflies and Snapdragons, Graphic Novels, True Stories), Collins. We also have 'free readers' in class where children can choose from a selection of carefully chosen books linked to attainment. All children read books which are appropriate to their ability. Children take books home and our planners support communication between home and school.

Our AR system is also used to motivate children to challenge themselves further in reading.

Phonics and reading

Children in EYFS and KS1 are taught to decode words through a systematic phonics approach.  Letters and Sounds is used as basis for our teaching and this is enhanced by the use of Essential Letters and Sounds. All children receive discrete daily sessions in small groupings which change regularly to meet the needs of our children. Children are then encouraged to apply the skills learned across the curriculum. Our reading scheme allows children to practise their phonic skills in meaningful contexts. The scheme is currently under review and our will shortly be supplemented with a wider range of books which support this. In KS2, where children fall behind in phonics, we have extra sessions to help them catch up quickly.

We hold a phonics evening for parents each year to share our approach to the teaching of phonics and support parents when reading with children at home.