At Our Lady Immaculate we aim to produce a lively and stimulating environment in which staff are committed to teaching individual, group and class activities which promote rich and appropriate speaking, listening, reading and writing experiences. We have recently adapted our writing curriculum to become a ‘Read to Write’ school which has created an inspiring curriculum; please read below to view our policies and curriculum overviews.
We recognise that English is a core subject within the National Curriculum and essential for educational and social progress. Mastery over language empowers children to communicate creatively and imaginatively, as well as allowing them engagement with the world at large. Therefore we aim to establish a curriculum which provides the necessary meaningful opportunities to develop competence in all language areas.
Reading and writing within our school curriculum has been implemented with our phonics scheme as a foundation, please visit our phonics page for more information.
Writing
Our writing scheme empowers teachers to provide high-quality teaching of writing through high-quality literature. These detailed units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich vehicle texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities within and across the curriculum and they also signpost wider curriculum enrichment opportunities through writing.
The documents below give you more information about the vehicle texts and genres that your child will be covering.
Reception Progression & Overview
Year 2 Progrerssion & Overview
Year 3 Progrerssion & Overview
Year 4 Progrerssion & Overview
Year 5 Progrerssion & Overview
Year 6 Progrerssion & Overview
Reading
It is our aim to encourage children to learn to love reading and to read regularly outside of school. Each area within school has its own dedicated area for a library as well as access to disciplinary reading texts.
Children will be taught two key reading skills:
Through ‘word reading’ the ability to decode words- will be taught through the use of the synthetic phonics scheme ‘Little Wandle’. Children will be assessed to determine the level of books they should be reading and to ensure that they progress appropriately.
Through ‘language comprehension’ children’s comprehension skills will be taught through high quality shared and guided reading sessions with teachers and teaching assistants, individual and group reading times and whole class reading activities. We have moved towards a whole class reading approach and we have found that children have become motivated to read and discuss more challenging texts. Children explore a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts and explore skills in recall, making inferences, developing vocabulary, making predictions and summarising texts.
We are very fortunate to employ a language support assistant to work with children for whom English is not their first language. Learning support assistants work with individual pupils and assess and lead learning to ensure these children receive high quality interventions.
Celebrations such as World Book Day are used to invite authors into school and promote the pleasure and knowledge that can be gained from books. We also take advantage of our local authority’s events that have included workshops and visits from authors.
Adults model reading to children daily. Children have access to books to read purely for enjoyment in each classroom. At Our Lady Immaculate we teach our English curriculum using the Literacy Counts Scheme including Ready Steady Write, Ready Steady Read Together and Ready Steady Spell. These units of work are adapted to meet the needs of our children and inspire our children though high quality literature. All year groups immerse themselves in a new ‘vehicle text’ each half term; this vocabulary-rich text drives learning and hosts a wealth of writing opportunities across the curriculum.
Ready Steady Read Together Overview Years 2-6
Spelling
Our spelling curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. We follow the award-recognised Ready Steady Spell by Literacy Counts to ensure that all pupils become fluent, accurate spellers. Our spelling curriculum is research-informed and impact-proven, helping children secure the essential skills and strategies they need to spell confidently across the curriculum. Through engaging activities, consistent teaching routines and regular opportunities to revisit prior learning, we help children move spelling knowledge into their long-term memory.
Our aim is to build confident writers who are equipped with the tools they need to communicate clearly and effectively. Spelling is taught in a clear and systematic way, with regular reviews and assessments. Additional support is provided through Ready Steady Spell: Go sessions, which offer targeted intervention for pupils who need further consolidation.
Useful websites for Parents
Please find a list of websites that you may find useful in helping you and your child learn about phonics. Games and fun activity websites are also included.
http://jollylearning.co.uk/ – Games and information for parents
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ – many games to play
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/ – fun games for the children to play
http://www.ictgames.com/literacy.html – fun games for the children to play
http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_home.cfm – fun games for the children to play and information for parents
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/ – fun games for the children to play
http://www.starfall.com/ – fun games for the children to play
http://www.firstschoolyears.com/ – fun games for the children to play
BBC Bitesize – many games to play covering all areas of the curriculum