As a school we follow the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for reading, writing and spoken language. Children learn English through daily creative curriculum lessons.
READING
It is vital that every child learns to speak and read first. Speaking and reading is the foundation of all language. Therefore, in Early Years and Year 1 there is a lot of focus on speaking and listening skills and learning to read using phonics.
Here is our Speaking and Listening Curriculum Map.
Here is our Reading Curriculum Map.
Phonics is the learning of sounds in order to help children read effectively. We begin by teaching the children the sounds that each letter makes, then go on to teach children sounds like oo, ou, th, ch, gr, pl and so on. We teach using the Little Wandle Phonics Scheme.
Once children are confident in their phonics they can begin to work out words which are unfamiliar.
In addition, we also teach the children the ‘high frequency words’. These are words which are very common and the children need to be able to instantly recognise and spell them.
Useful information about high frequency words can be found at this website http://www.highfrequencywords.org/
Once children can decode words using phonics and read the high frequency words, they begin ‘Guided Reading’. This is where the child reads with the teacher in a small group and the teacher asks them questions to check their understanding or ‘comprehension’ of the text.
Children who do well at reading are usually the ones who read with an adult regularly at home.
Children who read regularly and have good phonics knowledge excel in English, and are usually good writers too.
WRITING
Children at Adderley learn to write well by writing for a range of different purposes, such as:
Stories, myths & legends, letters, descriptions, reports, diaries, poems, riddles, arguments, explanations, speeches and interviews. Here is our Writing Curriculum Map.
If you would like to know which particular type of writing your child is learning, please refer to the Parent Curriculum Information section of this website.
Children are assessed in reading and writing each half term. Every child in school knows what their individual target is and what they need to do to achieve this. If you are unsure what level your child is working at or their targets, please ask their teacher.