English

Spelling

Children are taught spelling through the Read Write Inc scheme, which is for children in Years 2 to 6 who are starting to read more accurately, with increasing speed. With 15 minutes of daily teaching, children develop confident spelling. They are taught specific spelling rules which are then assessed at the end of the week. Click here for parental spelling advice.

Reading

Love of reading

At Woolden Hill Primary School, we believe that nurturing confident and competent children who have a love of reading is absolutely key to a child’s development and future success. We see reading as the key to unlocking the curriculum and a love of learning. Therefore, we prioritise time for independent reading in school and at home and work hard to ensure that children have access to an engaging text that is well-matched to their age and stage of reading development.

Children are taught to read in whole class Guided Reading sessions. Throughout KS1, children have access to a great range of fiction and non-fiction books that are arranged using a coloured book band system.

In KS2, children are taught the reading skills: decode, retrieve, explain and choice using a range of picture books, film, fiction and non-fiction titles.

As a school, we use Accelerated Reader which assesses the children and helps teachers guide them to books that are on their individual reading levels. After each book, children are quizzed to check their understanding.

PM Benchmarking

In Key Stage 1, once children have completed phonics, we use PM
benchmarking as a tool to assess and monitor the progress children are
making with their reading. This assessment is then used to ensure
children are on the right level of book and that their reading book is wellmatched to their reading ability allowing them to apply what they know
and make sustained progress over time.

Accelerated Reader

In Key Stage 2 teachers use the Accelerated Reader programme to
monitor and assess the children’s reading ability. Children take a STAR
reader test three or four times per year to check their reading progress
and ensure they are reading books at the correct ZPD (Zone of Proximal
Development). The programme also allows children to take a quiz after
reading a book which assesses their level of comprehension of what they
have read. This supports teachers in assessing if a child is reading a book
at the right level and diagnosing and barriers to good comprehension and
progress.

Accelerated reader guide

Class Texts

At Woolden Hill Primary School, we also understand the importance for
children to be exposed to range of genres and rich vocabulary. In every
year group, classes have a class text which is read to them daily. This
exposes all children to a range of high-quality texts and genres which they
may not being able to access elsewhere. These books are carefully chosen
and feature on our whole school reading spine below.

As a school, we value reading and have several ways to celebrate and engage our pupils:

Reading buddies
Race to a million words
World Book Day
Story Time Selfie Challenge
Our best books Year 5/6
Harry Potter Book Night

English Book spine

Patron of reading

Woolden Hill’s reading patrons

Writing

At Woolden Hill, we encourage our children to be creative and independent writers. We encourage them to write clearly and with confidence across genres. The children are taught to use punctuation and grammar accurately and edit to
make improvements as go they go. We value the development of correct letter formation and neatly presented handwriting through our use of PROUD. We give the children a wide range of opportunities in which to develop their writing skills
and display the wonderful work they have produced. Through our English curriculum, we aim to nurture in the children a love of literature and language, and the confidence to continue reading and writing throughout their lives. Teachers work collaboratively to plan writing learning journeys using progression maps. These ensure content is coherently sequenced in small steps and designed to help learners to remember, in the long-term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. The progression maps clearly show which skills need to be taught in each term for each year group

EYFS

In Autumn 1, the children begin by working on their letter formation, teacher’s model writing in whole class lessons and children write words and captions with guided support in small groups. During phonics sessions, children will also be expected to write words linked to the phonics sound they are learning. Independent writing starts in Spring 1, these lessons always consist of an input linked to the topic or story of the week. Teachers will model simple words, captions and sentences depending on stage of year. The children will then work independently to write what was modelled into their books. Once a week each group will work with the teacher for a focused guided writing lesson.

KS1/ KS2

Writing lessons take place at least four times per week and are planned as an English learning journey. Skills are taught by building on prior learning and linking new learning to things they already know. Each learning journey is planned to have an outcome with a clear purpose and audience so that children can learn to write and make specific grammar, vocabulary and compositional choices based on that outcome. Teacher plan using a combination of stimulus and approach including oral storytelling, non-fiction units and writing based on a novel or class text and poetry

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