English
Intent
At Meadowhead Infant School we aim to foster a love of reading within our children. We encourage them to read both for pleasure and in order to gain information. Reading is promoted across the curriculum and occurs all of the time. Integral to everything we do, is ensuring that we provide an environment where children see the true value of reading and develop a love for the written word.
Our overarching aim within writing is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping children with a strong command of the spoken and written word and foster an environment where children are enthusiastic about writing.
Implementation
Children at Meadowhead Infant School learn to read by being taught Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP). We provide a rich reading programme in ‘Collins Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’ practice reading books, which are set according to the children’s phonetical ability. The children in school are listened to read by an adult daily. Our first session focuses on decoding and reading fluently. Our second session focuses on prosody (reading with expression) and our third session focuses on comprehension.
From the moment children enter our school, they are provided with the stepping-stones and opportunities in order to become confident writers. Children are taught how to write clearly and accurately, applying their handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammatical skills for a variety of purposes and audiences. We use Talk for Writing to assist the children in their story writing. Starting in Nursery and Reception, where the children start to learn story language, right up to year 2, where the children rewrite stories whereby they invent new twists or characters. Talk for Writing assists the children in remembering the story language and the story. They then just need to focus on their spelling and grammar. Writing starts in Nursery where gross motor activities are planned for. The children use the Write Dance program and other gross motor activities.
Impact
Reading is promoted across the curriculum and occurs all of the time. All pupils are taught the skills and strategies to read and comprehend a variety of texts including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays. They are encouraged to read with confidence, fluency and understanding. Every class has story time during the school day to foster the love of reading and to allow for quality discussions about the text. Integral to everything we do, is ensuring that we provide an environment where children see the true value of reading and develop a love for the written word. Our shared library is key to this. Our library stocks a fantastic selection of themed fiction and non-fiction to entice children of all ages. School Book Fairs and celebrating World Book Day and Nursery Rhyme week are just some of the other ways we encourage children to become excited about reading! We also hold Bedtime Story evenings throughout the year and we feel that this promotes cultural capital in those children who are missing this as part of their daily routine. Parents come into school termly to attend a stay and read session with their child. All children visit the local library, as we find this encourages community links. As you move around our school, we would hope that you can see that reading is held in high regard. After all, reading is the foundation for learning.