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Here at Teynham Parochial Primary School we strive to deliver an English curriculum that allows children to develop a love of learning and develop life skills, which are broken down into three areas of Speaking & Listening, Reading and Writing.
Speaking and Listening:
The spoken word is a child’s first opportunity to share their opinions and thoughts with others. As such, we aim to support, model and develop ambitious and interesting vocabulary on which children can base their communication. We have established consistently high standards for listening, where we have assigned protected time to enable our pupils the necessary time they need to develop, ensuring children have the opportunity to develop and flourish in any situation.
Reading:
The children in our school show a great passion for reading and this is something we encourage children to develop and retain as positive lifelong reading for pleasure and growth, habits. The building blocks for reading begins with Phonics which is taught daily in Reception and KS1 classes, where we use Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised. At this stage the children are taught the skills of decoding using the process of blending and segmenting. Reading is taught through a structured approach and a rigorous assessment means reading books are matched to the sounds that children know. We use a wide assortment of visually attractive and engaging books from Big Cat Phonics. Children are exposed to the widest possible selection of books with classroom-based reading material, featuring a selection of fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as our well stocked children’s library which features children’s classics, as well as modern authors, specific genres and information texts.
As the children progress through the school, they are introduced to literature of increasing complexity. They then develop their skills and abilities, learning to analyse and evaluate a wide range of texts and stimulus through (E)RIC lessons; further deepening their comprehension and expanding vocabulary. In addition, Accelerated Reader from Year 2 provides staff with the opportunity to track individual reading engagement, assess reading ability and guide pupils to accessible books, as well as further develop reading for pleasure.
Writing:
Our writing approach begins in Reception where we strive to develop the physical skills needed to be successful writers; with the aid of Storycise, children are able to develop and refine the gross and fine motor skills needed to write effectively and efficiently. We provide a wide range of experiences where the children can acquire confidence and passion and in turn a positive attitude to writing.
Our children are encouraged to write in different styles and for differing occasions. Within all genres of writing we stress the importance of spelling, punctuation, grammar and presentation. The correct formation of letters begins at an early stage in our Reception class, and is then taught progressively throughout the school with children having genuine pride in their abilities. Our aim is to have the children writing in a joined cursive style by the time they commence in (Year 3) Lower Key Stage 2.
More on Reading
The children in our school show a great enthusiasm for reading and we want children to develop positive lifelong reading habits. Reading is taught through a structured approach using the Little Wandle programme. For early readers the book is matched to the phonic sound they are learning. As children’s reading develops they then start to use Accelerated Reader.
Accelerated Reader motivates, monitors and manages children’s’ independent reading practice helping them to develop a true love of reading. Click here to login into your child’s account.
This programme is supplemented with a wide assortment of attractive books of different genres. As the children progress through the school, they are introduced to literature of increasing complexity. They learn to analyse and evaluate a wide range of texts. Our well stocked children’s library introduces our children to the widest possible selection of books.
We believe that children become confident and fluent readers when both school and home support them. We encourage parents to hear their children read a little every evening and record comments in a reading record.
We work closely with Teynham Library.
Summer 2024 Reading Challenge
Please click here for further details on how your child/children can participate in the 2024 summer reading challenge.
For more information on your local library use the following link – Teynham Library | Local Kent Directory
Other links for parents to support reading
10 top tips for parents to support children to read – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Parents and families | National Literacy Trust
Tips for reading with your child | BookTrust
Top tips to support your child’s reading at home – BBC Bitesize