Early-reading begins the moment children start their journey at Manor Oak, with phase 1 and the beginnings of phase 2 phonics being explicitly taught in our Nursery, leading into further phase 2 and 3 in Reception. A substantial amount of time is spent within phase 1 to ensure that children have a strong foundation from which to build.

Since January 2022, we have joined the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds partnership, which provides explicit lesson plans and teaching formats from Phase 2 to Phase 5. As part of this, when children enter KS1, previous learning is reviewed as part of the phonics lesson, as well as introducing children to more complex words in phase 4 and alternative sounds within phase 5. During year 2, children explore phase 6 and are exposed to spelling rules and patterns, which further supports their reading ability.

High-quality formative and summative assessment is used to quickly identify any children at risk of falling behind in their phonic learning, as well as to set up and deliver intervention. As part of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, we deliver both 'catch up' and 'keep up' interventions, the former seeking to fill any gaps and the latter with the aim to address any misconceptions/difficulties following the phonics lesson.

Alongside these specific phonic lessons, within KS1, trained teaching assistants are assigned groups, with whom they read three times a week for half an hour. These reading lessons have a different focus each time: decoding, prosody and comprehension. Alongside this, there is a focus on vocabulary, recognition of high frequency words and applying reading strategies to texts. The texts that children read, are securely aligned to their phonic ability and form the texts that are also sent home to ensure increased fluency. In addition, a reading for pleasure text is also sent home, to allow for reading with a parent/carer which may contain phonics currently unseen by the child.

Following the Phonic Check Assessment in year 1, any pupils not meeting the expected standard are quickly identified and further support is put into place. This often takes place through the keep up interventions provided for by Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Within Key Stage 2, should any phonic difficulties be remaining intervention is put into place promptly. For example if fluency and speed are an issue, this is addressed through use of the PiXL interventional materials. If any children are identified that still require phonic intervention, this is swiftly put into place within and additional to the reading lesson.

Reading

In addition to the targeted reading sessions that take place within Key Stage 1 as part of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds, significant time has been spent researching and developing a reading curriculum that coincides with our wider curriculum (based on the extensive work completed by Ashely Booth). For example, within Year 5 the children are taught about Space in Science, so this is also a theme for a reading week. Within each week, a specific reading skill is unpicked and then applied to fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The rationale behind such a format is to reduce the cognitive overload by providing subject matter that is more familiar to the children, allowing for greater focus on the skill of reading.

Within the lesson, teaching typically involves modelling of a skill, the opportunity to practise together with the teacher, with a partner and independently, where appropriately differentiated questions are attempted.

Reading is specifically taught in half-hourly or 45 minute sessions, with one session often given over to the vital skills of summarising and prediction often alongside their class text, as these skills lend themselves better to familiar books.

Children are exposed to plentiful high-quality texts, which both engage and enthuse, and help to widen children's use and control of language, which in turn, feed into their writing.

A love for reading is actively encouraged and promoted across Manor Oak. First and foremost, the sharing of texts by all staff within classrooms, assemblies and library time, exposes children to a number of authors and helps to plant a love of books from an early age. Texts are readily available at lunchtimes and staff and children alike are constantly sharing and exploring books together. Reading areas within classrooms encourage discussion about texts and further engage children's interest.

We are fortunate to have a reading shed on the playground, which is open every day for children to explore and read their favourite texts. Parent and general volunteers come to the school to provide additional reading opportunities for the children, as well as the development of a peer-mentoring program, encouraging older children to support any younger children in need of further reading opportunities.

Writing

Writing at Manor Oak begins with a focus on fine motor skills, which are key in building the muscles needed to become effective writers. This moves on to utilisation of phonic knowledge, to write letters and words that match their spoken sounds, which soon develops into composing and noting down simple sentences. Our focus on exposing children to as many familiar texts as possible, helps to ensure that children are able to remember and use some of the literary language.

When they enter KS1, familiar tales such as, 'Red Riding Hood' are learned, story-mapped and written to help build stamina and familiarity with texts. Children are encouraged to punctuate their writing and extend their sentences through the use of co-ordinating conjunctions. Within year 2, writing is encouraged for a greater variety of purposes e.g. to entertain and to inform, which in turn, ensures a coverage of longer writing across several subjects. In particular, the children enjoy using their historical knowledge of the Great Fire of London to influence their writing.

Building on this strong start, children within KS2 are taught how to write for different purposes, including: writing to discuss and writing to persuade, as well as those covered within KS1. Alongside this, children are exposed to the types of grammar, vocabulary and punctuation that would be applicable to the purpose for which they write. By the end of key stage 2, the aim is that children are able to make deliberate choices within their writing according to the purpose and audience. Writing choices are taken from Power of Reading texts, which are studied closely within classes. Children look carefully at literary language used by authors and the effect that these choices have.

Editing checklists are used for longer pieces of writing to encourage children to take ownership and be familiar with the requirements for their writing.

Support and Tools for Parents

You can find help and support on theLittle Wandle website, by clicking here