English

At our school, writing is often linked to other areas of the curriculum to provide meaningful and engaging contexts that inspire children and help them make connections across their learning.

Our writing curriculum is organised around four key purposes: to entertain, to inform, to persuade and to discuss. Each half term, children focus on one of these purposes, exploring the features of different text types before applying their learning independently. As children move through school, they revisit each purpose regularly, building on prior learning and becoming increasingly confident and skilled writers.

High-quality texts, novels and poetry form the foundation of our writing curriculum. Where possible, writing sequences begin with the exploration of carefully selected poetry linked to the writing outcome, genre or theme being studied. Through poetry, children are exposed to rich vocabulary, language patterns and effective authorial choices that they can draw upon in their own writing. We are continuing to develop our poetry curriculum to strengthen links between poetry, writing outcomes and the wider curriculum, enabling children to gather and apply increasingly ambitious language in their writing.

Teachers regularly model the writing process, helping children understand how writers generate ideas, plan, draft, revise and edit their work. Grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting are taught and practised within meaningful writing contexts, enabling children to write with increasing accuracy, confidence and independence.

We strive to develop:

• Writers with a rich and ambitious vocabulary.
• Writers who can write effectively for different purposes and audiences.
• Writers who apply spelling, grammar and punctuation accurately.
• Writers who are confident, independent and take pride in their work.

Children who can spell feel more confident and able to write with enjoyment. Our goal is to ensure that our children are equipped with a variety of strategies for learning spelling and can use these strategies effectively in their independent writing.

To help support our teaching of spelling, we use an online platform called Spelling Shed for children in Years 1 – 6. Spelling Shed is a fun, game-based tool that can be used at home to help boost children’s confidence in spelling. We believe that a mixed approach using a combination of Spelling Shed and writing out spellings through repeated practice is key to spelling improvement.

Reading

English teaching and learning involves the four elements of English: Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. At Cotteridge School we want our children to become:

• Confident speakers in a variety of situations
• Good listeners
• Readers who enjoy all sorts of stories, poetry, plays and information
• Writers who have the skills to write for different purposes

We believe parents are partners in our teaching of reading and set reading as homework in all classes as well as attending Reading workshops throughout the year. We teach phonics in the Foundation Stage and in Key Stage One using Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS). Using a range of teacher and ELS Phonics assessments, children’s reading levels are assessed. Using the Oxford scheme, children are given a fully decodable home reading book, which has been read during Guided Reading, and which corresponds with the sounds that are being taught in class, in addition to a richer reading and library book each week. Daily Guided Reading sessions take place where children read the same book throughout the week to develop fluency which is then taken home to celebrate their success with their family.

Accelerated Reader is a reading programme which is used in KS2, whereby the children read books suitable to their reading and comprehension ability. We have a wide range of resources, including whole class book collections and well stocked Junior and Infant libraries. In Year 2 and Key Stage Two, children and staff participate in DEAR (Drop Everything and Read), encouraging reading for pleasure several times per week. The children are exposed to high-quality picture and chapter texts, exploring different themes. Each term, every child in KS2 receives their own copy of the class text to enjoy at home for years to come.

Every year we celebrate World Book Day as a week to promote a love of books and reading. Children and staff join in with celebrations, which may include dressing up as a character or in pjs. Whole school activities take place throughout the day to celebrate reading. Classes are invited to read to other year groups, which are enjoyed by both older and younger children. There is also a Book Fair during the school year. Across the year, Key Stage 1 classes may also visit local libraries.