• Achieve the best possible standards, whatever their starting point or ability.
• Develop communication skills for life.
• Access a broad and balanced English curriculum that develops oracy, writing and reading skills in all lessons and learning opportunities across the curriculum.
• Make rapid and sustained progress in diminishing the vocabulary gap.

HOW DO WE TEACH WRITING?

The structure of our writing units is:

• Cold task – (completed prior to the start of the unit to ensure that targets can be generated, and planning tailored to meet the children’s specific learning needs).
• Creative Hook – used to excite the children and engage them into the writing journey.
• Model Text introduced with a story/text map to support the learning –which has been tailored in light of the cold task.
• Vocabulary focus – vocabulary is discussed with children at every opportunity, exemplified and put into context. Vocabulary is displayed around the environment.
• Oral retelling and immersion of the text
• Comprehension – reading as a reader to understand the text.
• Identifying the underlying structure of the text (Boxing up)
• Sentence level skills work – short burst writing linked to vocabulary, grammar or text structure highlighted from targets.
• Innovation – pupils make changes to the text. They learn, rehearse, and write a new version of the text.
• Independent application – Pupils must have the opportunity to independently apply the skills they have learnt in English and whenever possible be given the opportunity to apply these skills across the curriculum.
• Publishing and celebrating – Children are encouraged to show case their work through different publishing and presenting opportunities.

READING

At Sledmere, we know that the ability to read is fundamental to pupils’ development as independent learners, during their time at school and beyond. We understand that reading successfully and with enjoyment is critical to children’s long term life chances. It is central to our ability to understand, interpret and communicate with each other and the world around us. Therefore, reading is given high priority at our school, enabling children to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers across a wide range and types of literature, including different text types and genres, books, leaflets, comics and newspapers. Such is the importance of reading at our school, we have recently opened our new library, enabling all children to borrow a book to share with their family and read for pleasure. We also have a daily session dedicated to children hearing stories through DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read).

Home Readers

• • Your child will be sent home with a reading book within the first weeks at school. These initially will start as picture books before moving on to books with words in. We have a range of books on offer to our children and we encourage them to start to change their book regularly and independently as they move from Reception into Key Stage 1.
  • Home reading books are sent home to be shared together and at an appropriate and comfortable reading level. We encourage children, with the support of their parents, to record what they have read in their home reading record.

Handwriting- Nelson Handwriting

• • Sledmere Primary School uses Nelson Handwriting programme to support the teaching of Handwriting. It is a whole-school programme designed to help all children develop a confident, legible, and personal handwriting style and meet higher curriculum expectations.
  • The programme includes resources for pattern practice and motor skills, fun activities to bring handwriting to life and an online subscription to help implement the programme in class

A handwriting lesson is explicitly taught on a Monday morning for twenty minutes. The taught letter or join is then practiced daily within English lessons, a line of which is written at the start of each lesson. This year, we have also introduced handwriting practice during our SODA (Start Of the Day Activity) to further enhance our provision of this important skill.