Reading

Intent

At Christopher Rawlins we want children to have a good foundation of phonics knowledge on which to build, to enable the acquisition of reading skills, to become fluent readers in order for them to reach age related expectations or make accelerated progress from their starting point. Systematic phonic work based on synthetic phonic principles enables children to benefit from the wealth of opportunities afforded by reading from an early age. As well as this we want children to develop a love for reading and read for pleasure on a regular basis.

For more detailed information about the teaching of phonics click here

Our curriculum is designed around the needs of the pupils in our school and there are a variety of approaches to enable the pupils to make good progress.

Characteristics of a Reader:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• Comprehension understanding the text both literally and using inference skills.
• Reading for meaning and enjoyment of reading

Reading progression of skills

Writing

Intent

At Christopher Rawlins we want children to be confident independent writers from an early age. Children build on their solid phonic foundations of segmenting and blending and development of spelling strategies. We use a core text approach in our writing using high quality texts to enrich the children's writing and encourage writing across a wide variety of themes and for a variety of different purposes. Writing is promoted in our cross curricular work, enabling children to apply writing skills learnt in English lessons to scientific, historical and geographical work. High expectations are modelled within the classroom and children are supported to develop as writers at all levels. A variety of resources are used to promote an engaging writing culture. Children are given a range of writing opportunities including the use of paired, group and independent writing tasks. Handwriting and letter formation is taught explicitly throughout the school and a high standard of presentation is expected.

Characteristics of a Writer:

• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
• show high levels of achievement and exhibit very positive attitudes towards writing;
• use and understand language as speakers, readers and writers.
• are competent, confident and independent in the use of language in their writing.
• have an awareness of different audiences and purposes for writing.
• apply their grammatical knowledge in their writing
• apply their phonetic and spelling knowledge in their writing
• apply the English language in all areas of the curriculum.