Phonics at Woodcote

Research shows that teaching Phonics in a structured and systematic way is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. Almost all children who receive good phonics teaching will learn the skills they need to decipher new and unfamiliar words. At Woodcote Primary School, Phonics is taught through the ‘Little Wandle, Letters and Sounds’ scheme of work. Children are taught the skills for decoding, segmenting and blending and are introduced to new phonemes and graphemes as part of a systematic synthetic approach. The teaching of Phonics begins in the Early Years and continues throughout Key Stage One where children start to learn alternative graphemes, lesser known sounds and the more complicated spelling rules. 

At the end of Year 1 children are required to sit the Phonics Screening Check to assess their ability to segment and blend words. Children are presented with 40 words – a mixture of real and pseudo words and they are expected to apply their phonics knowledge to read the words. If children are unsuccessful in Year 1 they have the opportunity to retake the check in Year 2. Phonics catch-up groups are put into place to support these children with additional interventions continuing in Key Stage Two if necessary. 

Further Support for Parents

Below you will find some important documents that will help you and your child continue to practice their phonics at home. There is also a link to the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds website which has further guides for parents including links to videos.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

 

English Reading

At Woodcote Primary School, we believe that reading is fundamental to children’s lives. It provides the gateway to future learning and enables children to reach people, places and times they would otherwise never encounter. A good reader is well equipped to fully access the curriculum and therefore reach their full potential. At Woodcote Primary School, we aim to ensure that reading is integral to every lesson. We believe that reading is essential to all areas of the curriculum and as such should be encouraged and promoted at every opportunity. Children should be taught to read proficiently for their age and to have developed a love of books. Our aim is to inspire children to read a wide range of books from a wide range of authors that reflect the culture and diversity of the children in our school community. We aim to foster children who read for pleasure and purpose.

Aim

 It is essential that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

NC Programme of Study

The National Curriculum aims for Reading outlines that pupils should develop the below skills, knowledge and understanding:

• 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

Curriculum

At Woodcote, we have adopted the CUSP Reading scheme.  Each cohort will have a suite of core texts that will form the depth study for the academic year. These texts represent a promise from the school to every pupil that it serves of the literature that it is committed to studying throughout a pupil’s school journey. The texts have been mapped to ensure a breadth of experiences, authors, texts and themes is addressed across the Primary years. In addition to these texts, there are core poems that each year group will study in detail. Other texts studied are extracts written to help support the teaching of specific reading skills.  

Planning and Teaching

Key reading skills are addressed in daily 30-40 minutes reading lessons in KS2. KS1 alternate between reading and writing lessons weekly, with a supplementary writing lesson during reading weeks. Reading is taught in one or two week blocks and lessons focus on the key text and selected extracts. The lesson begins with vocabulary analysis and moves to reading text aloud, where the children develop their prosody and fluency through a variety of methods such as choral reading, echo reading and timed practice. The lesson then follows a familiar pattern to reduce cognitive load: the children will work through a series of activities where scaffolding is gradually removed, enabling them to show independent application of the skill being taught.

Assessment

The sequence of lessons relies on clear formative assessment and knowledge of the reading skill being taught. This is supported by a clear long term plan. At the end of each term, we conduct PIRA tests to further support teacher assessment. Where gaps are identified, intervention is provided. This might take the form of ‘keep up’ interventions, where pupils receive extra attention to ensure continued progress. If necessary, ‘catch up’ interventions are put into place to address more significant gaps in fluency or comprehension. We use the Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up Programme from Year 2 onwards to ensure that gaps in phonological understanding are rapidly closed. To ensure our Reading Curriculum is accessible to all, some children receive pre-teaching and to familiarise them further with the text and/or daily reading sessions where, fluency tracking and decoding issues can be addressed.

Reading Overview by Year Group

Year Group	Autumn 1	Spring 1	Summer 1
1	Beegu Where the Wild Things are The Storm Whale The Owl and the Pussycat (Edward Lear) Aesop’s Fables (the boy who Cried Wolf	The Tale of Peter Rabbit Look Up! And Tango makes Three Chocolate Cake (Michael Rosen)	Here We Are The Lion Inside There’s a Ran-Tan in my Bedroom Aesop’s Fables (The Hare and the Tortoise) The Proudest Blue
2	Grandad’s Island Aesop’s Fables (The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs) Mrs Noah’s Pockets Paddington The Christmas Pine (Julia Donaldson)	The Quangle Wangle’s Hat (Edward Lear) Coming |to England The Street Beneath My Feet The Rhythm of the Rain Aesop’s Fables (The Sun and the Wind)	Little People Big Dreams David Attenborough Fantastically Great women who Changed the World Fantastic Mr Fox
3	Greta and the Giants The Pebble in my Pocket Leon and the Place in Between ‘Twas the Night before Christmas Anon	Sam Wu is Not Afraid of the Dark Operation Gadgetman	The Dancing Bear The Magician’s Nephew
4	The Queen’s Nose The Raven The Girl Who Stole an Elephant	Varjak Paw Young Gifted and Black	The Boy at the Back of the Class The Wind in the Willows
5	Shackleton’s Journey The Explorer	The Boy in the Tower A Midsummer Night’s dream I am not a Label	Secrets of a Sun King Five Children and It
6	Rooftoppers Pig Heart Boy How to Live Forever The Listeners Walter de la Mare	Skellig All Aboard the Empire Windrush  The Island	Dare to be You Introduction to Dickens Oliver Twist

 

English Writing

At Woodcote we want our pupils to be able to communicate effectively. We believe that children should be equipped with the compositional, vocabulary and grammar skills to be able to do this to write the highest standards. We want our children to be able to write well for their intended audience and to know how to adjust the tone vocabulary and content of their writing to reflect this appropriately. Our children will be able to apply the conventions of a range of genres and to know when to adapt them. 

Curriculum

 To assist in the sequencing and planning of our writing curriculum we have adopted the CUSP curriculum. Here, each of the NC objectives for writing, spelling, grammar and handwriting have been broken down into smaller steps that outline the age-related skills required and ensure progression both within the year across them. Each year group has been allocated genres to be taught each term, which means that during the course of a key stage every child will have been exposed to a diverse range of genres and writing opportunities. The units outline the key grammar skills require to writ in this genre successfully and gives the children a clear model to analyse and emulate.  The curriculum is broken down into blocks which are mapped out in in medium term pacers. In addition to this, SLT reviews them annually to reflect any changes in the NC and to address the individual needs of cohorts.

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
1	Poetry (Pattern and Rhyme) Setting descriptions Stories with familiar settings Instructional writing Poetry -playing with language	Recount from Personal experience Informal letters Stories with familiar settings Recount from personal experience Poetry on a theme – Nature	Poetry pattern and rhyme Instructional writing Setting descriptions Informal letters Poetry Playing with language
2	Character descriptions Poetry developing vocabulary Simple retelling of a narrative Formal invitations Stories from other cultures	Poetry on a Theme- Humorous Non-chronological reports Formal invitations Recount from personal experience Simple retelling of a narrative	Non-chronological reports Simple re-telling of a narrative Character descriptions Poetry developing vocabulary Stories from other Cultures Poetry on a theme (humour )
3	Poetry on a theme (emotions) First Person narrative descriptions Non-chronological reports Formal letters to complain Dialogue through narrative Performance poetry	Third person narrative Non-chronological reports Advanced instructional writing First person narrative Performance poetry (inc poetry from another culture)	Third person narrative Animal Stories Advanced Instructional Writing Dialogue through narrative  Poetry on a theme- emotions Formal letters to complain
4	Poems which explore a theme Persuasive writing First person diary entry Critical analysis of narrative poetry Third person adventure stories News reports	Stories from other cultures Explanatory texts First person diary entries Persuasive writing Poems which explore form	Critical analysis of narrative poetry Third person adventure stories News reports Stories from other cultures Explanatory texts
5	Formal letters of application Dialogue in narrative (first person myths and legends) Poems that explore form Balanced Argument Third person stories set in another culture Poems that use word play	Biography Third person stories set in another culture Playscripts (Shakespeare retelling) Formal letters of application	Biography Dialogue in narrative(first person myths and legends) Playscripts Poems that use word play Balanced arguments Poems that explore form
6	Autobiography Discursive writing First person stories with a moral Poems that create images and explore vocabulary News report Explanatory texts Shakespeare’s sonnets	Extended third person Narratives (adventure stories) Explanatory texts Autobiography  Extended third person Narratives (adventure stories)	News report  Shakespeare’s sonnets Discursive writing and speeches Poems that create images and explore vocabulary First person stories with a moral

Planning and Teaching.

 Before the writing process begins, children will need to be familiarised with the grammar skills required and to become familiar with a high-quality model text. By examining a detailed example that reflects their age and writing ability children will be able to repurpose the text structure, sentence constructions or vocabulary for their own writing. Where possible, links to learning in other areas of the curriculum are made to ensure that the children have experience of the subject they are going to write about.

Initially, the teacher will outline what the children are going to write and who the intended audience will be. Then, using the model as a guide, the teacher will highlight the key features that the children should be aware of. Children then create an outline for their own writing using text maps, boxing up or checklists. Once an audience and purpose for their writing has been established, the teacher will model-write an example reflecting on the features included and reinforcing the correct tone for the chosen audience. Some children will be able to use these strategies to move on to writing independently using their own plans. However, others may require additional support in the form of simplified text maps, sentence starters, vocabulary mats or further guided writing to assist them.

 As the children write, they should be allowed time to review their work at frequent intervals ensuring that they proofread for spelling or grammar errors and the use of writing partners should be promoted and time is set aside in the writing blocks to teach editing and proof-reading skills. Once this first draft is completed, children should return to their initial model for the text and reflect on their own work before completing an Ingredients for Success grid. The children self-review and this is is then reviewed again by the teacher to become part of the assessment cycle.

Each genre is revisited in each year group in Block B units as well as increasing in difficulty throughout the year groups.

At KS1

 Early writers need support to develop the key skills that will enable them to become proficient and so there will be a greater emphasis on handwriting, spelling and punctuation. All writing will be marked for this as a priority before the children are further stretched with the constraints of audience or genre. By the end of the key stage, children will be able to use simple models from reading as a frame for their own writing; attempt to write simple stories and poems with support and prompts and begin to re-read their own writing independently.

 Writing is taught daily during 20-30-minute sessions.

At KS2

 Once the key skills of handwriting, spelling and punctuation are secure and a child can write for meaning, they are taught how to adapt their writing for different audiences and purposes.

 Writing is taught in sessions of between 40 minutes and an hour depending upon the age of the children. Marking addresses the WALT and this covers the use of key skills and their application as well as considering how appropriate the writing is for the chosen audience. Revisions of the work done by the child is shown in green pen to indicate the process involved. By the end of the key stage, children are able to choose varied and ambitious vocabulary considering both the purpose and audience for their writing; write non-fiction which includes a relevant introduction and clear presentation of information with careful consideration given to the intended reader and be able to confidently combine elements of description characterisation, dialogue and action, in narrative structure to maintain a reader’s interest and move the action forward.