UplandEnglish
English
Reading
The aim of Upland Primary School’s approach to reading is that all children will become confident, motivated readers, irrespective of their background or individual needs and abilities.
It is our firm belief that all children will succeed in reading at Upland. By the time they leave our school, they will read independently; will have developed an understanding of what they have read and are engaged and motivated to read for pleasure.
We believe that for all our children to become fluent readers and writers, phonics must be taught through a systematic and structured phonics programme.
At Upland we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound, that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover. At Upland, we also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of language skills for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.
Reading: Progression of skills
Writing
The aim of Upland Primary School’s approach to writing, is to promote a writing culture within the school through teaching a full range of writing strategies, including spelling, grammar, transcription, word and sentence structure and composition. We recognise that writing is integral to all aspects of life and therefore endeavour to ensure that children develop a lifelong, healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards writing, becoming effective, meaningful communicators, while documenting and conveying their knowledge and ideas. We recognise that building on their personal experiences, writing encourages individual expression and higher order thinking skills to develop. Our children are given the best opportunities to build their capacity and confidence in a range of writing styles. By providing a stimulating environment and employing appropriate resources, we are determined to provide all pupils with a supportive writing curriculum, which offers a consistency of approach and progression through Foundation stage to year 6, which will allow our learners to recognise their full potential and develop as confident, competent writers by the time they leave our school.
