Marton-cum-Grafton Primary School

English

At Marton-cum-Grafton, reading and writing are intrinsically linked and are a thread that runs throughout our tightly woven curriculum. Our bookshelves have a vast array of stories, non-fiction texts and texts from different cultures and viewpoints, the children in our school are exposed to writing that excites and inspires them. We foster a genuine a love for reading in our EYFS provision and this continues along the children’s journey through our school; each year building on the knowledge, understanding and skills of the previous years and providing the stepping stones for their love of reading to further develop.

Books, in conjunction with extracts from a range of high-quality texts, form the bedrock of our writing; in our ‘Collect’ phase of writing we look at structure and language used by the authors and the impact this has on the audience of the writing. During our ‘Connect’ phase of writing we apply our new knowledge and skills to new situations and finally we ‘Create’ our own pieces of writing based upon the original text. At each stage we are relating this to both the audience and the purpose of the text and consolidating our understanding of the book or text we have been looking at within our writing lessons.

Intent

• That our children have a love of reading and writing that is inspired by a broad and varied diet of books spanning different genres and cultures.  
• To provide a rigorous and inspiring phonics programme that promotes fluent reading and aids working memory by the end of Key Stage 1 
• In early reading children know what to expect from phonics sessions. 

• That no child will fall behind regardless of family background or barriers to learning.
• That children become confident independent readers. 
• To provide the children with challenging texts with rich vocabulary and where learning new vocabulary is the focus of our daily Literacy.  
• Our children will be either at or above the national average for testing for phonics screening and end of Key Stage tests.  
• At Marton-cum-Grafton, we want children to be inspired and creative in their writing so they are able to write for relevant and meaningful purposes.  
• At the core of what we do is a focus on learning vocabulary and working in a way that provides opportunities for deliberate practice to reduce cognitive overload

Implementation 

• We will provide engaging and varied texts throughout the curriculum. 
• To maintain children’s love of books as they move through the school by taking part in author events, whole school book events 
• As teachers we are good role models in being passionate about books, reading and writing.
• Early reading is implemented rigorously through the phonics scheme Little Wandle. This is taught consistently throughout the school. 

• Gaps are identified early and with our ‘keep up not catch up’ approach, all children will be fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1 regardless of background.  From the very start, the emphasis will be on decoding, expression and comprehending the texts. In EYFS children are given many opportunities to mark make creating their own lines, patterns and shapes to help make sense of their world. 
• Throughout the school children are taught to write through the process of collect, connect and create. They identify key features from exemplar texts, magpie ideas, connect with and practice skills and use this as a vehicle to produce their own published work they can take pride in.  
• There is an emphasis on cross curricular writing so that children are able to practice the skills they have learnt.  

 Impact 

• Children become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1. 
• Fluent readers decode unfamiliar words in their head rather than verbally. 
• Adults teaching early reading, do so confidently and with consistency.  
• Children leave school with a love of reading. 
• Cohorts achieve at least, if not more than the national average in phonics screening and end of key stage reading tests and writing assessments.
• Children are able to access and comprehend a wide variety of texts.

• Children’s writing, across the curriculum is of a high standard.
• Children have a love of writing and speak enthusiastically about their work.