English

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

 

Speaking and Listening

At Chipstead Valley Primary our aim is for children to learn to communicate their thoughts, ideas and opinions clearly and succinctly, as well as to listen to and reflect on the ideas of others. We encourage children to turn-take in conversations and adapt their speech to a range of situations and audiences. From an early age, the children are encouraged to participate in a range of activities such as drama and role-play.

 

Reading and Phonics

At Chipstead Valley we want children to develop a life-long love for reading. Our aim is for all our children to become independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers, who enjoy reading a variety of texts.

At Chipstead Valley Primary we teach phonics using Ruth Miskin’s systematic Phonics programme Read Write Inc. Children in Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and some children in Year 3 and Year 4 take part in daily Phonics lessons, learning the common sounds in the English language, how to sound-blend words for reading and develop skills in spelling. Read, Write Inc is organised into sets, which outline the order that sounds are taught.  As children learn an increasing number of sounds, they are presented with a growing number of decodable 'Green Word' cards, which are words that the children can sound out and blend to read.  Children also learn how to read 'Red Word/Tricky Words', which cannot be read phonetically.

During the lessons, the children read books containing sounds that have been taught so that they can achieve early success in reading. They also develop comprehension and sentence construction. Children are organised according to their phonics ability, work in mixed age groups and are assessed regularly.

Children have opportunities to apply their developing phonic knowledge and skills in the context of paired reading during lessons as well as during individual reading sessions with a teacher or teaching assistant.  The reading books are closely matched to the children’s phonics knowledge so that children can focus on fluency and understanding.

Children take home a ‘Book Bag Book’ every week to read at home to reinforce the Phonics Teaching.

Children who have completed the phonics programme have access to age appropriate texts for one to one and whole class reading so that they can focus on developing their vocabulary, fluency, prosody and understanding of a range of texts.

 

Reading for pleasure

At Chipstead Valley we want children to develop enjoyment of reading. We encourage children to read for pleasure and to develop the ability to read fluently and with understanding. We have a recently refurbished library area that all classes have access to throughout the week, which is generously stocked with age appropriate and popular texts. Book corners in each classroom celebrate reading for enjoyment and we also have a beautiful reading garden.

 

Writing

Writing is developed from an early age by mark making and activities to develop fine motor skills.

We aim for our children to develop their ability to write in a wide range of genres, both fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

In KS1 children are taught to use finger spaces, full stops and capital letters and progress to using other forms of punctuation such as question and exclamation marks. They are taught about using engaging and meaningful vocabulary to make their writing interesting. By the end of KS1, pupils begin to evaluate and make some improvements to their writing.

In KS2, pupils develop competence in the accuracy of grammar, punctuation and spelling and the structure of text composition. Children are taught the skills of planning and drafting an extended piece of writing, organising their work coherently and the processes of evaluation and editing. Pupils will apply their skills through a range of genres considering vocabulary and structures appropriate for the purpose and audience.