“English is the language of the future… the most important tool you’ll ever need, no matter what career you choose. You have the right to English. Make it your right!” (Benjamin Zephaniah)

 

Reading and Writing in Early Years

At Mawsley CP School, we believe that all our children can become fluent, confident and competent readers and writers. To ensure this happens we teach using the DfE validated program Ready Steady Phonics. This is a synthetic, systematic phonics program based upon the Letters and Sounds 2007. We follow the Ready Steady Phonics progression document, which systematically develops children’s understanding of the phonics code and builds upon previous learning in an incremental manner as they move through school.

The program develops children’s ability to blend and segment, using their current phonics knowledge, allowing early success and increasing their confidence in reading. As a result, the children at Mawsley CP School are able to tackle unfamiliar words using their phonics knowledge.

At Mawsley CP School, we also model and apply the skills taught in the discrete phonics session into reading and writing across the curriculum, demonstrating contextual application of the skills taught.

We have a strong focus on language development as we recognise that speaking and listening are crucial skills that underpin reading and writing.

At Mawsley CP School we also want our children to be able to read for meaning and pleasure and to be able to view themselves as lifelong readers. The matched decodable readers provided by Ready Steady Phonics support this and provide engaging and meaningful texts for children to decode and to discuss for understanding. Development of comprehension is promoted within the Ready Steady Phonics Guided Reading Sessions and these are built on further as the children move through our school.

We have a skilled Early Reading and Phonics Lead in our school who is responsible for Ready Steady Phonics, monitoring and supporting the practice and ensuring fidelity to the Ready Steady Phonics program. 

Teaching Reading in Early Years

Ready Steady Phonics provides matched reading books which align directly to the Ready Steady Phonics progression document. These are available on-line and/or hard copies

The teaching of reading takes place through:

• A Shared Read of the decodable text, led by a trained adult at some point following the Friday session
• A Guided Read of the decodable text will take place with a trained adult
• This book will also be used for 1:1/independent reading for consolidation and to develop confidence.
• The books cover fiction, non-fiction and rhyme

Home reading

• The decodable reading book is taken home/access to the online reading book given
• The children are expected to read this to an adult, practising and consolidating their skills in phonics
• This is monitored by the class teacher and the Early Reading and Phonics Lead
• Children also choose a book for pleasure from our school collection

Reading for pleasure is fostered in early years, and all children take home a shared book which they can choose, guided by the teacher. This is for them to share with parents/carers to be read to and to talk about. Reading communication is encouraged in Home reading records and this is celebrated with 100 reads medal awards as well as an Accelerated Reader rainbow systems, that celebrates each reading stage goal.

Writing in Years 1 - 6

Writing at Mawsley CP School is now taught through 'Ready Steady Write' from Literacy Counts, which is an award-winning, evidence-based primary writing scheme for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. Built around high-quality, language-rich literature, it provides a structured and sequenced approach that develops confident, independent writers across all year groups. The writing units are carefully mapped to the National Curriculum to ensure consistent progression from Early Years through to Year 6.

Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. The Ready Steady Write program is designed to develop confident, independent and successful writers with high aspirations. Our writing curriculum is research-informed and impact-proven, carefully designed to support all children to master the foundational skills and write for a clear audience and purpose. Through the use of high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts, we provide exciting and meaningful reasons to write. Children are immersed in literature and taught to craft their writing with precision, using a range of pedagogical approaches, including sentence accuracy, modelled writing and shared writing, as well as regular opportunities for editing. We value spoken language as a foundation for writing. Through structured talk, drama and vocabulary exploration, children learn how to organise and express their ideas clearly before writing them down. Our aim is for every child – regardless of need – to write fluently and take pride in their work. We want our pupils to leave primary school as enthusiastic writers, ready for the next stage of their education.

At Mawsley CP School, our aim is for all children to:

• Be able to write in a variety of text styles / genres and for different audiences and purposes
• Understand the importance of writing
• Enjoy writing
• Take pride in their writing, in particular their handwriting, and to be given the opportunity to publish share their writing with others
• Be exposed to and taught high level vocabulary
• Have opportunities to write for authentic purposes and across a range of subjects
• Have opportunities to talk about and plan their writing
• Have a solid understanding of grammar and ability to use it accurately
• Have opportunities to evaluate, revise and edit their own work as well as offer feedback on the work of their peers
• To spell not only the prescribed spelling words but also words connected to the wider curriculum

 

Reading in Years 1 - 6

At Mawsley CP School, our aim is to ensure that all our pupils are provided with a rich and varied learning experience that aims develops the children as lifelong readers. Through the curriculum and our practice we strive to develop a culture of reading through consistently using high quality texts, that demonstrate aspirational language and grammatical structure; a variety of texts that inspire and enthuse children; texts with themes that help our children to develop and promote the school’s values as well as ensuring their personal, social, spiritual and emotion needs are met and where children are able to progress and reach their full potential.

Our reading curriculum aims to:

• Provide all children with the skills and strategies to read with confidence, fluency and understanding.
• Provide all children with phonological understanding to read words accurately
• To establish a love of books where children choose to read for pleasure
• To inspire an interest in words and what they mean to enable children to develop an increasing oral and written vocabulary
• To ensure all children read widely and experience a range of genres in fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and are able to discuss some of the ways in which narratives are constructed
• To foster an interest in books, read with enjoyment and evaluate and justify their preferences
• To develop children’s powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness through reading.

Our use of the Ready Steady Comprehension programme compliments this by providing a clear teaching sequence to reading lessons that explicitly teach reading skills and strategies in a cumulative way through evidence-based approaches. These comprehensive termly units have been constructed so that the entire statutory primary curriculum for reading is covered.

Ready, Steady Comprehension:

• Is sequenced, coherent and progressive
• Uses language-rich texts for vocabulary teaching
• Includes all elements of comprehension, taught sequentially across an academic year
• Has a clear focus on the skills and strategies needed to be a proficient and confident reader
• Uses engaging texts to promote a life-long love of reading
• Includes poetry, non-fiction and fiction that enhances learning across the curriculum

These detailed units are also vehicles to our wider curriculum. This, in turn, builds rich curriculum knowledge, as our school’s reading Intent and Implementation leads to Impact through improved outcomes for children.

 

Spelling in Years 1 - 6

Our spelling curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. We follow the award-recognised 'Ready Steady Spell' by Literacy Counts to ensure that all pupils become fluent, accurate spellers. Our spelling curriculum is research-informed and impact-proven, helping children secure the essential skills and strategies they need to spell confidently across the curriculum. Through engaging activities, consistent teaching routines and regular opportunities to revisit prior learning, we help children move spelling knowledge into their long-term memory. Our aim is to build confident writers who are equipped with the tools they need to communicate clearly and effectively. Spelling is taught in a clear and systematic way, with regular reviews and assessments. Additional support is provided through Ready Steady Spell: Go sessions, which offer targeted intervention for pupils who need further consolidation. 

Handwriting

Handwriting is a means of recording language on paper. It is an important life skill as a functional tool for expressing language and as part of self-image and expression of personality. Despite the increased use of computers for writing, the skill of handwriting remains important in education, employment and in everyday life. Writing also depends on fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting.’

As a school, we recognise that children’s ability to write well for the rest of their lives, depends on firm foundations of taught skills in their primary years.

Our aims in teaching handwriting are:

For all children to learn and practise appropriate and effective handwriting skills at each stage of development, continually working towards mature handwriting which is:

· Legible

· Presentable

· Comfortable

· Fluent

· Flexible

· Automatic

· Sustainable

 

Our whole school handwriting style is cursive letter formation which can then be easily joined when the children are able to master this skill. We do not teach/use lead in strokes but do ensure that the lead out stroke on appropriate letters is taught and secured at an early age.

A cursive letter formation style is taught and modelled from early years through to Year 6. When teaching individual letter formation, the letters will include lead out strokes (ready for joining).

 

English in the Hub

Within our Hub provision, English is taught through a sensory curriculum. Children are taught phonics at a developmentally appropriate age. Mark making forms the basis of early developmental writing and this continues through our English sessions that combine practical writing with an awareness of grammar and sentence construction through the teaching of Colourful Semantics. Beyond this, children progress to the Ready Steady Write curriculum, beginning at the Reception foundation stage.

For more information about the learning in our Hub, please go to the Hub page.