Immaculate Heart Of Mary

Reading

At Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Primary school, It is our intent that children will read widely and often at home and school for pleasure, for information and to expand and enhance their knowledge and understanding across all subjects. They are immersed in a reading curriculum that is rich and varied. Teachers model expert reading and use quality texts for children to interrogate. Through captivating imaginations, it is our aim that our children are motivated to apply progressively advanced skills that are transferrable to the digital and global world. Our children not only learn to read, they read to learn: reading is at the heart of our curriculum.

Writing

It is our intent that children are inspired by high-quality literature and a range of stimuli, which makes readers engage with and enjoy writing. Writing for a variety of purposes and audiences, the children apply progressively more complex skills to communicate ideas fluently and with interesting detail in a range of genres. Vocabulary is also ‘taught not caught’ through demonstration writing and, therefore, the children will have a highly developed repertoire of words using meaning seeking strategies, which extend detail and description. Writing in our school is well-organised and structured, which includes a variety of sentence structures. The children’s excellent transcription skills ensure that their writing is well-presented and punctuated and spelled correctly using their knowledge of spelling patterns and rules. Throughout the writing process, our children will edit and redraft their work, responding to feedback from teachers and peers

(see policy for more detailed information)

Statutory Requirements

Teaching in the Foundation Stage follows the Communication and Language strand and Literacy strand of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework 2013.

Teaching from Year 1-6 follows the New National Curriculum for English (2014) This is divided into three key stages: Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6) and follows four areas: Spoken language; Reading (word reading and Comprehension); Writing (transcription, spelling, composition, handwriting and presentation; Grammar and punctuation. By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills.  We aim that by the end of KS2 all of our children have made considerable progress from their starting points in EYFS.  With the implementation of the writing journey, being well established and taught thoroughly in both key stages, our children are becoming more confident writers.  By the time they are in upper Key Stage 2, all genres of writing are familiar to them and teaching can focus on creativity, writer’s craft, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.

Our children also become more confident, fluent readers and they realise the importance of reading for pleasure along with reading for information and knowledge. 

As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills, progression and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific spelling, grammar and punctuation objectives.  We hope that as children move on from us to further their education and learning that their creativity, passion for English and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.

At Immaculate Heart we are passionate about children reading for pleasure. Supporting a child’s love for reading is very important, as children who love reading often develop a love for writing. Whether that is reading a bedtime story, visiting the local library or reading instructions for your favourite game, reading can take place anywhere and at any time, books are the most portable forms of entertainment ever invented!

Reading a variety of books helps children to improve their imagination, be more creative and have a life full of fun and adventure. Being exposed to lots of books can improve a child’s vocabulary, the more they read, the more words they’ll know! Improving vocabulary will also help with writing and speaking, children will become more confident in expressing themselves as well as more articulate.