English

At St Paul’s C of E Primary School we believe the teaching & learning of English enables pupils to communicate and understand the world around us; it gives children confidence and a way to express their emotions, opinions and ambitions.

We have designed our English Curriculum to compliment our cross-curricular projects and immerse and highly engage children with English as a subject. The intent is to provide creative, real purpose opportunities through writing and reading across the curriculum, which present opportunities for acquiring knowledge, skills and understanding of the English curriculum.

Phonics in EYFS & KS1

At St Paul’s C of E we follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. This is a phonics resource that has been accredited by the Department for Education and Skills which consists of five phases.

To support early reading development, we support our phonics programme with a range of early reading books. These reading books are all phonetically decodable and carefully matched to children's ability. This allows children to practise the skills for early reading. Children have regular, discreet reading sessions in school and an opportunity to read their phonics books at home.

We also encourage parents to get involved with this key aspect of their children's education and invite parents to a Phonics Morning, supporting parents with their understanding of phonics and ways to support their children at home. We also offer stay and play sessions that allow parents to come and get involved in their children's learning in school in a fun and practical way.

Phonics LTP

Supporting your child at home.

To help you support your child at home, here are some pronunciation guides and videos.

Autumn 1 Phase 2 sounds

Phase 2 Sounds taught in Reception Autumn 1

Autumn 2 Phase 2 sounds

Phase 2 Sounds taught in Reception Autumn 2

Spring 1 Phase 3 sounds

Phase 3 Sounds taught in Year 1

Here is a quick guide to alien words

Guide to alien words

Here is a video about how we teach tricky words.

Tricky Words

Autumn 1 Sounds
Autumn 2 Sounds Spring 1 Sounds

Reading

Learning to read fluently is a fundamental part of a child’s education in order to confidently access all areas of learning and prepare them for the next stage in their life.

Reading is given high status at St Paul’s C of E Primary School and is at the heart of everything that we do. We aim to teach the children the skills to enable them to read well but also aim to instil in them a love of reading and a passion for exploring a range of books. When you walk around St Paul's you will see that each classroom has a well resourced reading area which children are able to use throughout the week.

KS1 and KS2 share and read whole-class texts (fiction and non-fiction) that are linked to our Curriculum Projects that not only promote a love and engagement in reading but the design of our reading curriculum means that pupils are immersed in the necessary vocabulary and grammar before they even begin to write.

We encourage all children to go up and borrow books on a regular basis from our school library. We also welcome children and parents ideas about new books to buy so if there is a new author we don't stock, please let us know!

Phonics and Early Reading Policy

Reading Book Support for Parents

KS1 Reading Books KS2 Reading Books

Writing

Shared and modelled writing takes place within English and also topic lessons for cross curricular writing. This allows the teacher to demonstrate high expectations and covers the success criteria they would expect to see in children’s writing. Children are given extended opportunities to write frequently in a range of forms and the curriculum is designed to provide real purpose experiences to promote cross curricular writing.

For more information about the teaching & learning of English, please contact our English Leader, Mrs Hughes, via the School Office.

SPAG Glossary