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At Craneswater Junior School, we strive to help every child develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of English so that they can listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. Children are taught how to use spoken and written language to communicate ideas, views and feelings effectively. They are also encouraged to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to develop enthusiasm for reading and writing across the curriculum.

English

Reading​

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Our Vision:

 

“At Craneswater, our aim is for pupils to become independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers who read widely and comprehend what they have read. Reading is an essential skill that underpins all other curriculum areas and ensures pupils have the ability to access lifelong learning and develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.”

To enable this, the curriculum at Craneswater is designed to develop the various dimensions of reading. In this way, pupils enhance their skills, knowledge and belief that they are good readers, which is essential for pupils to read for pleasure.

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Guided Reading:

Guided reading sessions provide an opportunity for children to develop key comprehension skills in a small group with adult support. This should enable the teacher to develop an understanding of the child’s reading ability and understanding in relation to each Reading Domain. During the session, there will be opportunities to practise decoding skills and develop vocabulary. Moreover, there will be an explicit focus on developing skills of inference and deduction and modelling how to answer questions by using the text and justifying their opinions. On occasion, this understanding will also be applied to SATs style tasks so that children become familiar with a range of question layouts. Texts used have been designed to cover a range of genres, cultural and historical contexts, purpose and audiences and extracts vs. full texts. Within Guided Reading sessions, pupils will also have the opportunity to apply taught skills independently and develop reading stamina with dedicated reading time.

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Reading across the curriculum:

Guided Reading is only one way in which reading is developed. Reading is embedded throughout the curriculum and reference will be made to the skills learnt in Guided Reading in all other subjects. Literacy units will include opportunities to “read as a writer” and “read as a reader” to ensure pupils develop a clear awareness of the links between reading and writing and to enable pupils to independently draw on key texts to support, enhance and develop their writing styles. In foundation subjects, key texts will be used to provide contexts, stimulus and knowledge to taught units.

 

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Reading Enrichment:

  • Library access to ensure pupils can access a range of books at the appropriate level; to provide independent choice and encourage diversity of reading through key themes.

  • Author visits to ensure all pupils have the opportunity to hear and question inspiring authors and develop an appreciation of the writing process.

  • Class readers to ensure children have access to a range of historically or culturally significant texts and provide a shared reading experience for all.

  • Events Book Fairs, Book Awards and reading competitions to promote reading for pleasure

  • Home reading All pupils are encouraged to read regularly at home. Pupils will have an additional library reading book to support this.

 

Reading Interventions:

All pupils should have the necessary skills to read fluently and confidently. A range of reading interventions are available to help pupils to close gaps in their reading ability. These include: Regular Reading, Better Reading, Reading Between the Lines and Phonics.

Writing

 

At Craneswater Junior School, we aim to promote the value and enjoyment of writing and look for ways to make this

meaningful and relevant across the curriculum.

 

We aim to enable children to:

  • Form letters correctly, leading to a fluent, joined and legible handwriting style, giving increased regard to presentation;

  • Write in different contexts and for different purposes;

  • Be increasingly aware of the conventions of writing including grammar, punctuation and spelling;

  • Plan, draft and edit their writing to suit the purpose;

  • Use ICT as a literacy medium for presenting work and manipulating text.

 

Pupils have access to a wide range of writing opportunities at our school. Just some of these include:

  • Shared writing;

  • Guided writing;

  • Independent writing;

  • Writing in a range of genres and narrative styles;

  • Writing for different audiences;

  • Writing across the curriculum;

  • Writing for real and specific purposes;

  • Handwriting practice.

Spelling

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At Craneswater, we aim to enable children to

  • Understand the principles underlying word construction (knowledge of letter and sound correspondence; spelling patterns and conventions, knowledge of prefixes and suffixes and how these affect the spelling and meaning of words);

  • Apply a wide range of spelling strategies;

  • Build pupil’s self image as spellers

We teach spellings through regular focused sessions that revisit what the children have already learnt and introduce new spellings. Children have opportunities to practise spellings as well as to explore and investigate rules and patterns.

 

 

Within each unit of English and throughout the rest of the curriculum, children are provided with lots of opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills.

We aim to enable children to…

  • Speak with confidence, clarity and fluency;

  • Participate in discussions and debate in a variety of contexts;

  • Listen to the views, opinions and ideas of others;

  • Articulate ideas and thoughts clearly by using appropriate tone and vocabulary;

  • Ask thoughtful questions and to respond to questions and opinions appropriately.

Pupils have access to a wide range of speaking and listening opportunities at our school. Just some of these include:

  • Talking about their own experiences / recounting events;

  • Participating in discussion and debate;

  • Listening to and retelling stories and poems which are known by heart;

  • Taking part in school performances and class assemblies

Role play and other drama opportunities across the curriculum.

Speaking and Listening

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