English 

At Staplehurst School we provide an exciting and engaging English curriculum. We want each pupil to develop a life-long passion for reading, a love of communicating and to be motivated, expressive writers from an early age. We have developed our curriculum with a focus on high quality literature, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. 

Phonics

At Staplehurst, children make a strong start to learning to read in The Early Years Foundation Stage. Children are taught phonics through the ‘Read, Write Inc’ Phonics program. Read Write Inc is a fast-paced, immersive, successful scheme that is widely respected and used across the country. Children are taught in groups so that they can be taught at the appropriate level and progress at their own speed to allow them to reach their full potential.

When children are able to blend the sounds in words, they apply this knowledge to read decodable books matched to their phonic level. Teaching continues throughout KS1 in these smaller groups that develop children's reading and comprehension skills to enable them to become successful readers in all areas of the curriculum.

Reading is at the heart of Staplehurst School. We teach phonics in Reception and KS1 using the ‘Read Write Inc’ scheme, and then build on this knowledge when teaching spelling, as the children progress through the school.

Writing

Writing is taught systematically across all key stages using a modelled approach recommended by the DFE guidance. Our curriculum builds on the importance of talk, handwriting, grammar and spelling with deliberate practice to develop sentence mastery before writing for a range of purposes.

Children are taught handwriting, in a clearly sequenced progression from EYFS, to support their gradual acquisition of skills. Children build the skills needed for writing through their physical development as well as teachers precisely modelling formation of letters. Children are taught a structured curriculum which builds knowledge of sentence construction systematically in small steps from EYFS to 6.

Pupils become fluent in accurate sentence construction before writing at any length. Sentence knowledge is then used independently by children to write with precision and clarity. Pupils write about what they know from the wider foundation subject curriculum and their study of literature in writing lessons.

Spelling

At Staplehurst School, pupils are taught spelling lessons during 3 sessions a week following a systematic scheme that covers the national curriculum spelling objectives for each year group. Following on from phonics teaching in EYFS and KS1, children continue in KS2 to learn how to spell new words by the route of decoding; phonemes (sounds) in words and the graphemes (letters) which represent them.

We also teach children to use their knowledge of the origins of words or parts of words to help make links in their learning. Through this approach, children build their knowledge of words using phonics, etymology and morphology. Our aim is to ensure that all children are well equipped to tackle spelling new words they encounter within writing at school and beyond.

Below is our overview of texts for the year. Each one has been carefully selected to enrich children's learning and offer diversity and variety. Where possible, and appropriate, links have been made with humanities in order to enhance subject knowledge. It is important to us that the curriculum acts as both 'a window and a mirror' for children:

Reading

At Staplehurst School, we believe that reading is at the heart of everything we do. We strive to develop a passion for reading that lasts a lifetime. To develop reading skills of competency and depth, we teach a multi-layered reading approach that builds fluency and accuracy that can be applied to access extended texts. These skills are then used within close reading sessions whereby children are involved in purposeful analysis of a text, through rich discussion.

Reading texts, chosen by teachers, reflect a wide range of genres, cultures and subject matter.

Reading for pleasure is nurtured and celebrated and we carefully offer texts to support this within our classrooms. Children learn best when home and school work together and so parents are encouraged to hear their children read regularly at home.
 

 READING

Please clink on the link to see our latest reading video from Mrs Johnson.

https://youtu.be/QbOZ0QVKbcI

READING IN EARLY YEARS please click on this link to see how we devleop reading in Early Years.