Titchfield Primary School
English
How Reading is taught in Titchfield Primary School
How Reading is taught at Titchfield Primary School
At TPS there are two prongs to our reading curriculum – ‘learning to read’ and ‘loving to read’. Learning to read books are linked to our SFA Phonics programme and consists of fully decodable reading books which support the children’s learning in phonics. Loving to read includes being read to on a daily basis and children choosing high quality books from our class libraries and main library to enjoy in school and at home.
EYFS and KS1
Over the year the teacher reads a variety of books to the children, these cover all different topics and are linked to the children’s interests. Within these class book sessions, the teacher will focus on children developing a love of reading.
It is important that children don’t simply know their phonics but can apply that knowledge to the skill of reading itself. In SFA Phonics children apply their developing phonic knowledge and skill by reading the Shared Readers. These are carefully aligned to the phonics lessons.
Each Shared Reader is designed to be read in class over five days before the book goes home for children to practise. The reading lessons provides opportunities to develop comprehension, fluent reading and understand how grammar and punctuation affect reading.
Children will also be able to take home two ‘love to read’ books – one from the class library and one from the main library. These are to be enjoyed with an adult at home and are not decodable by the children.
Key stage Two
All key stage two classes have a range of guided reading texts that link to our curriculum projects. They focus on the reading domains and skills within each domain. The children have a whole class input, where the skills are taught and the text is explored. Then children are either taught as a whole class or grouped according to next steps in learning. If children are grouped, the teacher will focus on one group a day, in order to question and discuss the text in detail.
Sometimes different texts are used within the lesson in order for all children to access the skills. The children record their learning within their own reading journals, using a wide range of activities to explore each reading skill.
Twice a week, the children will have comprehension activities to teach them to understand the meaning in a text. These guided reading sessions give children the opportunity to read and respond to different genres.
Guided reading sessions are taught daily, usually last for 30 minutes and are taught after lunch.
All classes read a class book separately to encourage reading for pleasure.
Assessment
Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support.
The assessment expectation is for daily, formative monitoring and feedback to be carried out and for this to be supported and validated by using the Reading Assessment Programme (RAP).
In KS1 the children undertake a RAP assessment half termly. In KS2 the children undertake a RAP assessment at the end of each term. RAP provides an effective diagnostic assessment tool which identifies a child’s strengths and areas of development and is used to inform the next steps in teaching and learning.
Alongside this we use termly Progress in Reading Assessments (PiRA).
We use our assessment to highlight strengths and identify areas of weakness in children's key reading skills. This information informs planning and helps to pinpoint the reading skills that need development, whether through catch-up intervention or whole-class teaching.
Reading Home Learning
At Titchfield Primary school there is an expectation that children read frequently at home. We encourage parents to support children to develop a love of reading. KS1 children will take home a SFA Phonics decodable shared reader, a book from the class library and a book from the main library. The decodable shared reader is changed weekly in KS1 and the other books are changed as needed.
Children within Key stage 1 are encouraged to read every day for between 5-10 minutes. Key stage 2 children are encouraged to read every day from 10-30 minutes.
How writing is taught at Titchfield Primary School
All classes have a purpose driven writing curriculum, which is led by rich texts. These are linked with the national curriculum and the topics. These rich texts have been planned to ensure breadth and depth of the writing curriculum. Please visit each year group page to see the text overviews:
The rich texts used for each topic are often used as the hook within our writing, the children are always made aware of the purpose of their writing, as well as their form, viewpoint and audience. This is differentiated within KS1 and KS2 in terms of the language used to explain each aspect of their writing.
Our English lessons are taught in the morning for on average an hour. This may vary depending on the writing task the children are required to do. For KS1 there will usually be between 2 to 3 different units of work within a topic, all focusing on the topic and the final outcome. Within KS2 there are 2 units of writing within each half term.
Within our writing curriculum we ensure that our writing follows a learning journey. We use the categories of Stimulate and generate, capture, sift and sort and create, refine and evaluate. Each part of the journey can take a range of time depending on the writing focus. Within the capture, sift and sort stage we ensure that grammar and punctuation is taught, linking to the writing outcome. At the end of each unit of writing the children publish their final outcome. A success criteria is used, which has the key skills focused on within the journey. Once a piece of work has been published the children evaluate their learning by finding evidence to support skills used within their success criteria.
Teachers at Titchfield will use the National Curriculum within their planning, we identify what needs to be covered within each phase and adapt our learning objectives to include the skills stated within this model. All teachers assess the children’s writing by using the Hampshire Assessment Model.
All English and wider curriculum writing is within one ‘writing book’ to ensure that the expectation of writing remains the same for all aspects of the curriculum.
Spelling skills are taught separately in KS2 before English lessons. The no-nonsense spelling scheme is used from Year 2 to Year 6. EYFS and Year 1 use phonics as their spelling tool. Spelling lessons normally last for 20 minutes and all work is recorded within the children’s spelling books. Spelling tests are administered under the teacher’s discretion, however there is an expectation that the children will know how to spell all statutory words within their Year group by the end of the year.
There is an expectation within Titchfield that all children are forming their letters correctly by the end of Year 2 and joining accurately in Year 3. By the end of Year 3 there is an expectation that all children will have achieved their Pen Licence. Handwriting is introduced within Early Years, starting by teaching the children the lead ins and outs of letters, this then builds to joining letters correctly. KS2 have no specific handwriting lessons but children are targeted with handwriting practice if this is deemed necessary.
Home Learning
The children are given a range of home learning activities that involve writing, this is in order to allow the children opportunities to apply their writing skills and link it to the wider curriculum. The Writing home learning is specified in an individual class home learning letter. The teacher gives a range of writing choices that the children can do, in order to help them consolidate their writing learning.