At Hethersett Woodside, our aim is to develop confident and independent readers and writers.
We create meaningful experiences and drama activities which inspire the children to write. Writing is taught and celebrated daily across a range of subjects. We implement a knowledge-engaged curriculum, and through this we provide cross-curricular writing opportunities. Children are taught to consider the purpose, form and audience of their writing across a range of different genres.
The daily teaching of phonics in the Early Years and KS1 is supported by the Read Write Inc scheme, where the children learn the phonics sounds forming the foundations of early reading and writing. The Ruth Miskin Reading Scheme sits alongside this, with a carefully sequenced progression of knowledge and skills which children need in order to become fluent readers.
English lessons are taught using high-quality texts, supported by the Talk 4 Writing scheme. Younger children follow a carefully structured approach, building upon a rich story language. The children learn actions to help them remember the texts and their own stories are written with these scaffolds in place.
In Key Stage Two, children follow a similar process, with a quality text at the core of the learning but a variety of rich and relevant writing opportunities stem from the reading of longer novels.
Spelling, grammar and punctuation are taught as an integral part of each genre giving the learning a meaningful context.
Children learn reading skills through regular individual and focussed guided reading sessions. Teachers model reading practice during shared reading and provide opportunities for reading across the curriculum. We teach comprehension and discussion skills as an integral part of reading.