English

Developing our children’s skills to express themselves articulately, both orally and in writing, is central to our approach to teaching English. Through Oracy assemblies and P4C (Philosophy for Children) lessons, children are given the opportunities to work on these skills.

Reading:

Reading is a priority here in Kings Avenue School. Our aim is to foster a love of reading throughout all year groups and key stages. This is done through the use of whole class texts and engagement projects. We also endeavour to include high quality texts in as many subjects as possible. Reading across the curriculum provides opportunities for children to independently access the curriculum whilst building upon their reading skills.

Guided Reading:

In Key Stage 1 we have a whole class approach towards Guided Reading. In these daily sessions, the children read a range of high-quality texts written by a variety of authors from all over the world. Through class discussions and questioning from adults, children are able to develop the ability to discuss and analyse texts at a gradually higher level.

Active Read:

In Key Stage 2 children read daily using the Active Read approach. This is a structure of lessons that focuses on different skills in reading, gradually building upon them over time. Through the use of high quality texts and studying a range of genres, KS2 children are able to compare and discuss literature and form opinions on different authors.

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling:

The teaching of grammar, punctuation and spelling is integrated into our daily Literacy teaching, so that our children clearly see the purpose of using correct grammar in relation to the genres they are learning to write in.  Often our lessons begin with short, discrete grammar, punctuation or spelling activities, which then feed into the other activities within the lessons.  We also ensure that success criteria for writing tasks include the appropriate grammatical and punctuation elements, so that the children apply their learning in these areas in their own writing.

Phonics:

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/

We teach phonics using RWI (Read Write Inc).

Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Have a look at the gallery below which shows children throughout the whole school reading, writing and learning English!