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Coningsby St Michael's Church of England Primary School
Believe. Aspire. Succeed.
Vision statement
Our School Vision for English
As Jesus welcomes and values children, we at St Michael’s aspire to welcome and value all members of our community. We believe that this welcome and value provides opportunities for all to succeed.
Matthew 18: 2-5
Trust Vision
Aligned with our Trust's vision, Our Excellence, Exploration, and Encouragement powered by Equity, we are committed to overcoming social inequality, passionately striving to improve the life chances of every child in our care. At the heart of this journey lies the power of reading.
This connection is woven into the fabric of our daily lessons, fostering a sense of compassion, empathy, and social responsibility among our students. Together, we strive to not only educate minds but also nurture hearts, preparing our students to become compassionate leaders who make a positive impact in their communities and beyond.
At Coningsby St Michael’s C of E Primary School, we intend for all our children to leave our school as competent writers. Writing is carefully linked throughout the curriculum so children will have opportunities to develop and hone their writing skills. Expectations for writing are high and children are encouraged to take pride in their written work. We believe all our children are able to develop a love of language and oracy and adapt these for different purposes and audiences. We aim to adapt our writing curriculum in a progressive way in order to effectively teach children from foundation stage through to year 6.
Phonics
Our aim is to help children develop a lifelong love for reading. In Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 at Coningsby St Michael's we use Ruth Miskin's Read Write Inc phonics program to teach sounds and early reading. Parents click below for more guidance on how we teach phonics and how you can support.
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/
By Spring term we expect all children in Year 2 to begin whole class guided reading along side their peers in Key Stage 2. At Coningsby St Michael's we know that our children learn best from reading together and supporting each other to develop their skills in vocabulary and comprehension.
Children love learning how to read through Read Write Inc, and we know you will soon become familiar with Fred, Fred talk, Fred fingers and so much more. Please click for more information:
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/
Whole Class Reading
Texts to be shared with each year group are carefully mapped out and have been chosen to ensure children are exposed to a range of class novels, non-fiction and poetry texts across the year, covering the expectations as set out in the National Curriculum.
By Spring term we expect all children in Year 2 to begin whole class guided reading along side their peers in Key Stage 2. At Coningsby St Michael's we know that our children learn best from reading together and supporting each other to develop their skills in vocabulary and comprehension.
Whole class reading takes place every day across Key Stage 2 and from Year 2 when children are able to read fluently using whole class reading activities as the focus to improve children's reading.
Vocabulary is a key priority and children are encouraged to develop their knowledge and understanding of unknown words. Pre teaching of vocabulary allows those children who need extra support to participate fully in lessons. Our aim is that children complete a novel by the end of each term which sparks their interest in developing their love for reading.
Furthermore, all subjects across the curriculum have focused vocabulary that is shared with children at the start of a new term to demonstrate our commitment to providing children with a vocabulary enriched curriculum.
Each session is planned to engage children to develop their reading skills as they progress through school. This is further supported through our reading spine and subject based books that further develop and hone our pupil's passion for reading.
Writing
Transcription
We follow the EYFS and National Curriculum and begin writing in Reception through our fidelity to the Read Write Inc program. Read Write Inc focuses on transcription and then comprehension. Children are taught to sit correctly and form letters correctly during RWInc and are encouraged to strengthen their pencil grip through daily activities set out in their provision. We continue this through Year 1 and in Year 2 until the end of Autumn term by using the Get Writing books for writing. Children are encouraged to use talking and skills of rehearsal to help them in the development of their early writing skills.
Transcription & Composition
From Year 2 (Spring term) to Year 6 we use Read to Write as a framework for writing, we felt that children at CSM would benefit greatly from a structured, well planned curriculum for writing that would give them the confidence to use their newly acquired language skills across the curriculum. Where possible, learning questions in these year groups will link to the texts read in English so knowledge and skills are retained and embedded, ‘Sticky’ knowledge is key as children progress through the skills of writing curriculum.
We envisage that children will enjoy the high-quality texts that the Read to Write framework provides. Language is an important part of the program and children will be given ample opportunity to use this in their everyday lives. Expectations from the model texts are pitched at the highest level as we refuse to put a ceiling on children’s learning. Feedback from Year 6 pupils who have trialled the program has been incredible as children talk about the exciting text and build up to the texts. Children will become confident independent writers who can write for different purposes and audiences. They will have a love for writing because they have been given the tools to be a great writer.
Grammar
In order to support children in grammar and punctuation we explicitly teach grammar through Active English.
Active English has been developed by the staff team at Witham St Hughs Academy and is now delivered through LEAD Teaching School Hub Lincolnshire and is a program that has been developed to allow children to recall and use correct punctuation in a fun interactive way. We expect pupils at CSM to articulate confidently why and when they are using grammar in their writing.
Spellings
Research, as well as classroom experience, indicated that a lack of competence in spelling can cause severe problems to young writers. They may feel embarrassed and frustrated. This may lead them to write fewer words and create compositions of lower quality, which are limited to the words they know they can spell (Joshi et al, 2009)
Spelling is a skill which is learned, not an innate ability and therefore it can and should be taught.
We allow discrete time for our pupils to study words and thus build their knowledge of how words are constructed. Children in turn develop their own repertoire of to aid the learning and retention of spellings and vocabulary.