Corton Church of England VA Primary School and Nursery

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Our children at Corton CE Primary School & Nursery are raised with a great love and enthusiasm for reading, which helps them develop into competent and self-assured readers. The children are welcome to use our recently replenished school library, which offers them access to a cosy, secure reading area filled with a variety of fiction and non-fiction books authored by admired writers.

The staff guide the children to select books that will challenge them as well as excite their curiosity by drawing on their own passion for reading. Every class includes a range of books as part of their curriculum; we feel that this helps children's writing and increases their creativity since they are exposed to a wide range of topics and are immersed in many worlds.

Every child, from early years through to year 6, is encouraged to bring two books home. One of these books will be chosen for them from the colour-banded books; these are designed to assist them at their reading level and to give them an opportunity to practice and become fluent in comprehension. To further inspire their curiosity and cultivate their passion of reading, they choose their second book independently from the library.

 

We believe that every one of our pupils is capable of developing into confident, fluent readers and writers, but first they need a solid foundation in phonics. For a child to grow fluently in all aspects of English, phonics is essential.

Teaching pupils Systematic, Synthetic Phonics (SSP) involves demonstrating to them how phonemes, or letter sounds, can be combined to form words. For instance, the word "cat" can be decoded since its sounds can be combined: c a t = cat.

In order to guarantee that best practices in phonics are consistently utilised to promote progress throughout the school, we at Corton use a combination of Time for Phonics in Early Years and Phonics Play programme for KS1.

Teachers evaluate each pupil's phonics skills at the end of each phase or every half term. This fills in any gaps where individualised attention is required and enhances the teaching and learning of phonics.

Every one of our reading books complies to the phonic program's sequence and is completely decodable. We make sure that the books that our children are reading are connected to decodable texts all throughout the school, so they can confidently use what they've learned during phonics to become fluent readers and improve their comprehension.

 

At Corton, we help our children master the abilities needed to talk, write, and read fluently so they can express themselves. There are four main components to speaking and listening: speaking, listening, discussion and performance. Our curriculum has been designed to incorporate these four essential elements, making it engaging and exciting for the children, and we actively encourage our children to express their thoughts and ideas. Children spend time interacting with their peers, collaborating on pieces of writing, acting and presenting, and receiving feedback from their peers. Children's speaking and listening abilities grow as a result of using these strategies in every lesson, which help to improve learning and enhance expectations.

Children are always encouraged to share and read aloud from their work. After hearing excellent examples from peers, children can think back on their own work and are encouraged to ‘magpie’ words or phrases that they can apply in their own writing. This is a fantastic chance to enable individuals to improve their own writing and creativity by drawing inspiration from others. Ultimately, we aim to foster the development of our children’s excellent communication abilities so they are prepared for adulthood.

 

Writing is an essential part of our curriculum because we believe it provides a means for every pupil to express themselves and their creativity, while also setting them up for success in the real world.

English lessons are structured throughout the school as gradual steps that lead to a final writing assignment where pupils showcase the variety of abilities they have developed. Our lessons send pupils on a journey of discovery that provides them with the knowledge they need to become excellent writers. The children's writing provides as examples of how skills can be developed from word and sentence-level practice, paragraph level application, finished writing projects, and editing. We aim to write with stamina as well as excellence in mind.

The development of writing skills is enhanced by a high-quality text-based approach. Pupils gain knowledge of the target audience and the purpose of their writing, as well as the ability to shift the register or tone of a piece of writing. All lessons are separated into the grammatical and punctuational elements needed to produce a final piece of writing that is effective, allowing children to comprehend and explore the components of writing for different purposes.

Our writing curriculum provides a variety of writing prompts that promote high levels of engagement and enjoyment. Giving pupils time to absorb a text and learn new writing techniques before enabling them to use them more independently ensures that they will have a deeper comprehension of the writer's decision. Texts are carefully selected to ensure that children are immersed in a rich and varied literary history, while also expanding their understanding of the wider curriculum. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are taught throughout everyday English lessons so that children may grasp these important concepts in context and feel comfortable using them in their own work.

 

Please click here to view the Writing progression document for Early Years.

 

Please click here to view the Reading progression document for Early Years.