Kingsley Community Primary and Nursery School
English
Reading
At Kingsley Community Primary, we take every opportunity to ensure all of our pupils love to read. It is vital that all children learn to read as quickly as possible and that reading sessions promote reading for fluency and accuracy, reading for knowledge and reading for pleasure.
Here at Kingsley, we teach and encourage reading in lots of ways. Our early readers, develop their skills by participating in daily, very clear and focused Read, Write Inc sessions. The children work within small groups with others who are of a similar ability which allows for targeted, fast paced sessions. Children are regularly assessed and move through the programme as and when they are ready to.
From Reception to Y6, we also follow the Steps to Read programme which is a daily 30 min whole class session promoting both fluency and comprehension skills. The children work in pairs in order to ensure everyone is confident to access the text being studied. Each lesson follows a 4 step approach consisting of: Read, Model, Practise and Apply. The children learn wonderful strategies including: skim reading, stop and jot and highlighting evidence. The texts used are of high quality and allow the children to explore new vocabulary.
Group reading is also a crucial part of our curriculum. Children read in small groups with their teacher at least once per week reading a suitably levelled text with a targeted learning focus. These books are reinforced at home and a clear reading log is kept between home and school using the Go Read online system.
Reading for pleasure is key if children are to love reading. Our children have access to a well-stocked class reading area which contains books that are relevant, of high interest, topic specific and boast a wide range of genre. Our children enjoy taking a reading for pleasure book home alongside their levelled book, and book reviews can be included in their personal Go Read app.
Click on the links below to see each year groups progression document.
Spelling
From September 2021, we will be following the brand new programme from The Literacy Company called ‘Pathways to Spell’. This is a progressive programme which runs from Y1 (starting in the Spring Term) through to Y6. The programme links directly with our writing programme ‘Pathways to Write’ and therefore spelling can be effectively taught then embedded across the curriculum.
Our children will have a key set of words to focus upon each week and the lessons follow the following sequence:
The units of work ensure that the statutory content of the Primary National Curriculum for spelling for KS1 and 2 is covered and by the end of the units, pupils become confident and competent spellers.
Click on the links below to see the progression documents for each year group.
Writing
At Kingsley Community Primary School, we follow the incredibly detailed and fully progressive ‘Pathways to Write’ programme developed by The Literacy Company. The programme runs from Nursery through to Y6. A quality text is studied per class per half term with the final ‘big write’ focusing on a carefully selected genre which promotes the use of the mastery keys which have been taught and practised throughout the unit. The texts studied are in the following grid:
Children’s writing is assessed at the end of each half term with gaps in learning being identified. These are then reinforced and consolidated during the following half term as well new mastery keys being taught. Effective guided writing sessions are planned for ensuring that each group or individual receives quality, focused sessions to ensure progress is made.
We also enjoy whole school writing projects throughout the year. Our plans ensure there is a progression of skills from Nursery to Y6 and work is displayed for all to see.