English
At Woodmansterne, we believe that literacy and communication are key life skills. We recognise the central role that English has in children’s intellectual, emotional, social and cultural development and how it can contribute to all areas of learning. Through our holistic approach to teaching and learning in literacy, we offer purposeful, engaging and varied experiences which enable our children to grow as confident and creative communicators.
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Reading and Phonics
Reading underpins our entire curriculum, which is steeped in the development of fluency and the use of high-quality vocabulary. A love of reading and books is integral to our learning across the curriculum. We recognise that ensuring a strong foundation of early reading, which is then built upon in KS2, is vital to achieving our aim that every child leaves Woodmansterne a confident, fluent reader.
We are passionate about reading and children at Woodmansterne are, right from their very first day, surrounded by and exposed to quality texts and reading experiences which reflect creativity, variety and diversity, with the aim of inspiring reading at every stage. Nothing is more important to us than developing a love of reading and we pride ourselves on sharing and embedding this belief both inside and outside of the classroom.
Writing
At Woodmansterne we recognise that writing is a complex craft and support our children with drawing connections between the different elements in order to grow as resilient, independent and fluent writers. We believe providing purposeful and engaging reasons to write will support children in appreciating the importance literacy has for them as life-long learners.
Writing is taught through a journey enabling children to write accurately and coherently, adapting their style and language to a range of contexts, purposes and audiences whilst developing their creativity and imagination. Our teachers promote the development of a growing vocabulary through a rich and stimulating language environment. Explicit grammar skills are taught in every year group and our expectation is that children then apply and develop their grammatical knowledge in their writing.
We take pride in our presentation and have high expectations for handwriting across all subjects. In Early Years, children practise manipulative skills in order to prepare them for writing. They are taught to hold a pencil effectively and form recognisable letters. In Key Stages 1 and 2, handwriting has a strong emphasis in all lessons.
Implementation
Our reading offer includes daily phonics teaching using Read, Write, Inc and shared reading lessons which teach progressive reading skills using Accelerated Reader and VIPERS. Our carefully sequenced reading curriculum also provides a range of opportunities to encourage a love of books, through visits to our Woodland Library, whole class, paired and individual reading time and engaging book corners.
Our approach to teaching and learning in writing ensures that children can learn, practise and embed essential skills in order to write and communicate coherently, whilst developing the power of imagination and creativity. Exposure to high-quality texts and vocabulary is a central part of every child’s writing journey here at Woodmansterne, as well as opportunities to edit, refine and evaluate written work for future learning.
Our teachers promote the development of a growing vocabulary through a rich and stimulating language environment. Explicit spelling and grammar skills are taught in every year group and our expectation is that children then apply and develop their spelling and grammatical knowledge in their writing.
We take pride in our presentation and have high expectations for handwriting across all subjects. In Early Years, children practise manipulative skills in order to prepare them for writing. They are taught to hold a pencil effectively and form recognisable letters. In Key Stages 1 and 2, handwriting has a strong emphasis in all lessons.
Reading and writing attainment and progress are regularly monitored, and actions are swiftly put into place to address any gaps through a range of carefully chosen interventions and the adaption of planned learning.
Reading Coverage & Progression of Skills