At Reed First School, our intent is to give every pupil a high-quality education in English which will teach pupils to speak, read and write fluently. As a result, they will be able to communicate their ideas and emotions to others. They will understand the purpose and audience they write for. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know across the whole curriculum. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society.
English at Reed First School ensures the requirements of the National Curriculum are met across all year groups. We believe that all children should be part of a literacy rich environment. The importance of literacy is recognised through use of high quality texts and experiences to offer a wealth of opportunities to read, write, speak and listen. Good practice in reading, writing and speaking and listening is shared and modelled in whole class teaching across the curriculum and in our communications with the children.
In the Foundation Stage English is taught through opportunities in Communication, Language and Literacy. The emphasis is on teaching English through stories and non-fiction texts with strong topic links, child-initiated learning through play and the demonstration and use of language rich environment.
Reading
It is widely recognised that reading for pleasure is associated with higher levels of literacy achievement. There is also a relationship between cognition and motivation, proficiency and motivation in reading. Those who are good at reading do more of it: they learn more and expand their vocabulary and knowledge. This enables them to understand more of what they read.
We aim to achieve:
- An understanding across the school that, for most pupils, reading begins orally and that talk is valuable through the whole reading process.
- An understanding that the best way to teach pupils to read is by teaching them phonics in a systematic way.
- Children who are encouraged to think of themselves as a reader and to share the reading of the marks and words they put on the page.
- Rich and expressive spoken language is used and shared in classrooms and across the school.
- Adults model reading out loud and share their love of reading.
- We create an environment where reading is valued, celebrated and recognised as a life skill.
- We create a print rich environment to encourage inquisitive minds to who want to understand the meaning of the print they can see.
Further details of this can be found in the policies and curriculum maps below, which outline our methods for teaching reading and phonics.
Phonics and spelling
At Reed First School, we teach phonics and spelling lessons as discrete units of work. The progression of this is outlined in our curriculum map below and further detail about our aims, expectations and methods are outlined in our policy for phonics and spelling from Nursery through to Year 4.
This link takes you to the Little Wandle parent page
Writing
At Reed First School the teaching of writing includes approaches that allow a slow release of responsibility from the teacher to the pupil once they have been shown how to be an effective writer. The purpose for writing has to have meaning and interest to the children. As a result, our units of writing across the school are led by the interests and focus chosen by the children.
Transcriptional skills for writing are taught in daily discrete phonics, spelling and handwriting lessons. As stated by the EEF says: ‘If children have to concentrate to ensure their handwriting and spelling is accurate, they will be less able to think about the content of their writing…’
We aim to ensure our children have the transcriptional skills they need to write in order to be able to become writers and enjoy the process of creating texts. Children are supported to develop their fine and gross motor skills to be able to mark make and explore recording their written ideas in Early Years. The teachers skilfully plan opportunities for early writing throughout the day in adult led inputs as well as continuous provision, ensuring the children recognise that marks carry meaning. In conjunction with transcriptional skill development, the children are supported to reach their early learning goals and be ready for Key Stage One.
Further detail can be seen in our policy for writing and our writing curriculum map below:
Handwriting
handwriting is taught in discrete lessons following our curriculum map and policy as detailed below. All staff model and expect high quality presentation in all written work and ensure all areas are handwriting ready.
Speaking and Listening
We develop each child’s ability to speak with confidence, clarity and fluency in a variety of situations, for a variety of audiences and for a range of purposes. We foster the confidence needed to speak to an audience by incorporating a range of opportunities to speak in our daily routines to becomes a natural life skill. Capacity to listen with attention and understanding is developed as soon as the children start school by providing engaging experiences and time to respond. All adults working with the children model correct use of Standard English and accurate speech.
Opportunities to talk are integral to every lesson. Verbal interactions are modelled and encouraged from Early Years through to the end of Year 4.
Children are taught how to adapt their speaking skills to a variety of situations, including: presenting to a familiar audience, performing, debating, questioning, socialising and including others. Part of this naturally requires the development of the ability to listen to others, value what they have to say and respond appropriately.
The skills learnt year on year are applied at one of our KS2 events, where the children host a community tea party, where part of this includes engaging in a conversation with others, asking questions, entertaining and leading. 
Guests attending are always suitably impressed saying:
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and the children for making us so very welcome at the Tea Party yesterday. It was lovely to meet the children and hear their singing. When they showed us round it was a tribute to the staff and yourself to see their evident pride in their surroundings. They have had an excellent start to their academic careers.