At Hanbury C of E First School, we want our young people to understand the importance of Literacy. To know that it is a set of fundamental skills that helps them to make sense of themselves and the world around them and that it enables them to communicate in a variety of ways. We believe that every child has something to say.
English Curriculum
Speaking and Listening
At Hanbury we recognise that the ability to speak and listen is fundamental to pupils' language and social development. It is an essential tool for all areas of the curriculum, as talk underpins learning and thinking.
The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding of reading and writing. At Hanbury, pupils are encouraged to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write. They are helped in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others.
Reading
Reading is a big priority at Hanbury Church of England First School and one of the most important skills your child will learn. I have put together some information about how the reading scheme is organised and how you can help your child develop the key early skills needed to become a proficient and confident reader.
We have a colour banded reading scheme in school, which start with wordless books and progress up to challenging chapter books. Each colour band contains a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, with the aim of engaging readers from the very start. Children will be able to choose books from the colour book band that matches their reading level, but which also provides a degree of challenge in order to maintain progression with their reading skills.
The teaching of reading in school is done in many ways;
- Children are taught phonics and spellings and build up sight vocabulary through the learning of common exception words.
- We share high quality texts with children and engage them in book talk.
- Children are expected to read in a variety of lessons for a variety of purposes.
- Children will be taught comprehension skills and how to make written responses to questions about a text.
- Children are encouraged to select their own books to read and support them in using the library to develop reading for pleasure and each classroom has an age appropriate book area.
Writing
The Programmes of Study for writing at KS1 and KS2 are made up of two parts:
- Transcription (spelling and handwriting)
- Composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing)
As a school, we then break these up further to ensure that children develop the vital skills of:
- Reading and responding to the text
- Talk for writing and planning writing
- Planning, drafting, editing and improving writing
