Crab Lane Primary School

READING

Teaching of reading starts early in EYFS, where the children have short, focused, daily phonics sessions as part of the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme of systematic synthetic phonics. This continues throughout the year, becoming more formalised from term 3 (January). Opportunities for reading with an adult and listening to adults read are made as often as possible and a love of books is encouraged from the beginning.

The RWI programme is used daily throughout KS1, with children working in small groups with a trained adult. As part of this programme, children use their phonological awareness to read real and ‘alien’ words and to write the corresponding graphemes for each sound. Children are assessed in the statutory Phonics Screening Check in June of Year 1. If children do not pass the PSC in Year 1, they will re-take it in Year 2. 

In KS2, if children have not completed the RWI programme, they work in small intervention groups or one-to-one with an adult in order to close the gap.

Throughout the school, from Y2 to Y6, there are daily whole class reading lessons, which aim to develop the children’s reading skills in line with the Reading Domains. Books are chosen at a level appropriate for the majority of the class with provision being made for children with additional needs. Children access a fluency intervention to support them to get back on track. More information can be found in the below document.

In order to further develop a love of reading, children are read to daily by the teacher in a timetabled session and children take part in a reading buddy scheme. Books are chosen for interest and may therefore be beyond the actual reading ability of some of the class. Books are also available in the classrooms that specifically connect to the current foundation subject topics and these are displayed so that children are encouraged to read them and develop their knowledge and understanding of the topic. In addition to this, children access our newly-refurbished library, which parents and stakeholders are able to access. The school also takes part in the annual young reader’s programme funded by the National Literacy Trust.

Home reading is strongly encouraged and parent meetings and letters keep parents and carers informed of the school’s expectations and provision.

Home readers are banded following the RWI colour banding system so that children are given books they can read with confidence. They are expected to reread them and become familiar with them. In KS1, children take home the RWI book they are working on, a matched RWI story book and a colour banded book of their own choice. Higher attaining readers can take a banded book and another book from the class library. This can be a book that parents can share with their child. In KS2, children take home an age-appropriate book and can choose another from the library which can be shared at home with parents. In this way, independent reading at home is a manageable challenge and is supplemented with other books to increase the enjoyment of reading a wider range of texts.

 WRITING

In EYFS, children are taught the letter graphemes as they learn the sounds in RWI and are encouraged to have a go at writing by sounding out words and recording the sounds they hear. This takes place during teacher led sessions and there are also plenty of opportunities during child initiated sessions, with a range of materials and writing prompts available. 

We follow the National Curriculum for English and from this have devised a  writing sequence for our school, including the successful application of targeted grammar and punctuation skills.. Units of work are based on different genres, and a purpose and audience for each piece of writing is decided from the outset. We ensure progression in complexity of tasks and expectations year on year. 

Page Last Reviewed: 05.03.2024