English
At St Martin's we believe that reading and writing, supported by speaking and listening skills are the key to successful learning. All children have a daily English lesson where key skills are taught, developed and improved. These skills are then used and in other curriculum areas.
Phonics and Spelling
We aim for all our children to develop a sound knowledge of letter sounds in order to give them the tools for fluent word reading skills. We use the Letters and Sounds phonic programme in Early Years and KS1 and all the children have a daily phonics/spelling session based on this. Children are taught spelling strategies and these are built on through the Support for Spelling programme in KS2.
Check out the free interactive resources on the sites opposite & have fun practicing with your child.
The highly successful Reading Buddy program
World Book Day
Writing
We provide a wide range of opportunities for the children to write for different audiences and for different purposes. We believe that our children write best when they are interested and inspired and we plan interesting events to enthuse them. Children are taught sentence and grammatical skills and how to apply them across a range of contexts. We encourage children to use ‘the best words in the best order.’
Speaking and Listening
We plan for our children to develop their speaking and listening across the curriculum. We give opportunities for children to discuss and present what they are learning. We encourage children to develop their vocabularies in order to enrich their writing.
Reading
Our aim is to foster a real enjoyment of and love of reading. As part of this we have a Bedtime Story event each November where children return to school in the evening, in their pyjamas, and teachers, also in pyjamas, share stories in classrooms decorated with lights. Older children listen to stories by the campfire at Forest School.
Every fortnight children share books with children from other classes through our Reading Buddies scheme. Older children read to the younger ones, sharing and discussing stories.
In Foundation and KS1 we use the Oxford Reading Tree scheme to support our teaching of reading. This continues into KS2 although a wider choice of books is available as the children progress. All children have access to a wide range of different texts throughout their time at St Martins.
Our initial reading focus is on using phonic knowledge to decode words and recognise the tricky words on sight. Children then develop their abilities to use the both the grammar and context of sentences to read harder texts. Children are always encouraged to think about what they are reading and to answer questions about it, referring back to the text. They begin to predict endings and to suggest alternatives. Existing reading skills are built on and children are encouraged to have their own opinions about what they are reading and to say why they think what they do. Children are taught to compare different texts, recognising similarities and differences. They begin to ‘read between the lines’ to think about an author’s intentions.
Bedtime Stories Event
We value the support of our parents and the regular reading practise they do at home. In KS1 and Foundation children receive a Rainbow Reader certificate for each week they read at home five times. After five certificates the children can choose a ‘Rainbow Reader’ book to keep and take home. Certificates and books are awarded at a weekly Rainbow Reader assembly.
Parents often ask us how they can best support their child’s reading. Please look at the questions in the document below which you can ask when reading with your child. Please keep reading with your child. Regular practise makes all the difference and supports all other areas of the curriculum.
Reading sheet for Parents
