English
Reading
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Writing + Grammar
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Phonics
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Reading
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Writing + Grammar
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Phonics
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
English
Reading
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Writing + Gramar
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Phonics
Intent, Implementation
+ Impact Statement
Writing at Whitnash
Each year group follows the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.
We see English as not just a stand-alone subject, but part of every subject and the school's
curriculum. We want our children to write for a meaningful purpose and, where possible,
through first hand experiences and visits. We make use of high-quality texts to inspire our children
to write - picking texts that are both challenging for the children,
engaging and offer good models for their own work.
We follow ‘Talk4 Writing’ as our chosen whole-school writing approach, which enables the children
to understand different text types and how they are structured.
Teachers review the work developed by children and identify how they can improve and enhance
their writing. Independence is also developed, with the children reviewing their own writing,
re-editing and developing final drafts. Information about how children’s work is marked,
can be found in our Feedback Policy under the policy section of this website.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of writing at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Reading at Whitnash
When our children leave Whitnash, we want them to be fluent and confident readers. We want them
to see value in reading for pleasure, reading for knowledge and reading for necessity. We want
them to seek out non-fiction texts to answer their curiosity about their world, poetry to enjoy and
speak to them, as well as enjoy a rich diet of high-quality fiction texts. We believe that the power of
reading is invaluable for our children and strive to ensure
that they leave us being confident and passionate readers.
We use Accelerated Reader to enhance the children’s love of reading.
The children choose a book from the wide selection available.
After reading their chosen books, they complete a quiz to check their comprehension.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of reading at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Phonics at Whitnash
Phonics is an effective way of teaching children to read. By ensuring high quality phonics teaching,
we want to improve literacy levels and give all children a solid base to build on as they progress
through school. Through phonics children are taught how to:
- recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes
- identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’
- blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word
Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see.
This is the first important step in learning to read. At Whitnash we use Read, Write Inc. (RWI)
as our phonic scheme. Read, Write Inc., was validated
by the Department for Education (DfE) in December 2021.
We begin teaching phonics in the Autumn Term in Reception and children make rapid progress in
their reading journey, as a result of our structured, daily Read, Write Inc. teaching. Children begin by
learning the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well
as learning ‘common exception’ words. Common exception words are a group of words that
appear commonly in both texts and spoken language,
but which can't be decoded using normal phonics rules.
Through the delivery of Read Write Inc. programme, we expect all children to:
- reach the expected standard of the national phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.
- develop reading fluency and read with comprehension.
- develop co-operative behaviour and articulate their ideas and understanding.
- spell and write with confidence.
What is the ‘Phonics Screening Check’?
By the end of Year 1, most children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend
when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national
phonics screening check. In the Summer Term (June), teachers administer the national check.
This is undertaken on a one-on-one basic with each pupil.
The phonics screening check contains 40 words divided into two sections of 20 words.
Both sections contain a mixture of real words and pseudo-words.
Pseduo-words are words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an
associated meaning. Pseudo-words are included in the check specifically to assess
whether a child can decode a word using their phonics skills.
All pseudo-words/ Alien words in the check are accompanied
by a picture of an imaginary creature.
Children are taught that when a word has a creature next to it, it is a pseudo-word.
This is to ensure that they are not trying to match the pseudo-word to a word in their vocabulary.
The check is designed to give teachers information on how a child is progressing in phonics.
It will help to identify whether a child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall
behind in this vital early reading skill and record whether their response
to each of the 40 words is correct. Each pupil is awarded a mark between 0 and 40.
The phonics screening check is a check of a child’s phonics knowledge.
It helps your school confirm whether each child
is making the progress expected in the national curriculum.
If a pupil does not meet the expected standard at the end of year 1,
a programme of support is put in place,
which involves the continuation of the Read, Write Inc programme,
as well as additional 1:1 support.
Children are then required to re-take the phonics screening check in Year 2.
In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited for all children to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue
to receive support to close identified gaps.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of phonics at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Parental Support
Phonics works best when children are given plenty of encouragement
and learn to enjoy reading and books. Parents play a very important part in helping with this.
Parents can highlight these sounds when they read with their child. Teaching how sounds match
with letters is likely to start with individual letters such as ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ and then will move on to
two-letter sounds such as ‘ee’, ‘ch’ and ‘ck’.
Parent workshops are held in both Reception (Early Years Foundation Stage) and Year 1
to inform and support parents and carers with our phonics programme.
Our Home /School Agreement, highlights how crucial weekly reading
and phonics practices is at home.
We expect all parents to support their children’s development in this way
and record home reading in children’s online reading diary.
With all books, we ask parents to encourage their child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then
blend the sounds together from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess.
Once your child has read an unfamiliar word parents can talk about what it means
and help their child to follow the story.
Class teachers will also be able to suggest books with the right level of phonics for each child.
These books are often called ‘decodable readers’ because the story is written with words
made up of the letters your child has learnt. Children will be able to work out new words
from their letters and sounds, rather than just guessing.
Whitnash Primary use ‘book bags’ and a reading record. At Whitnash Primary, our reading
record/diary is a user-friendly online App, which is a great way for teachers and parents
to communicate about what children have read.
The reading record can tell parents whether their child has enjoyed a particular book
and shows problems or successes they have had, either at home or at school.
This information is analysed by class teachers,
including the quantity of reading a child is undertaking at home.
Spelling at Whitnash
At Whitnash we have introduced the Read Write Inc. approach for Spelling.
This is aimed at children in Years 2 to 6 who have completed Read Write Inc. Phonics programme
and have met the English National Curriculum expectations for reading in Year 2.
Direct teaching underpins the programme. Spelling is taught cumulatively and systematically,
with deliberate, focused practice.
Constant revision, practice and 'quick checks' are key to this approach.
The spelling programme:
- makes sense of the most complex alphabetic code in the world- 150 spellings of 44 speech sounds.
- builds upon teaching strategies and spelling activities from Read Write Inc. Phonics
- is organised in daily, 15-minute well-paced lessons
- provides plenty of writing practice, and 'quick check' assessments with a clear record of children’s progress.
The programme’s core activities teach:
- alternative spellings of vowels
- alternative spellings of consonants
- homophones
- the impact of adding prefixes and suffixes to root words
- spelling plural nouns
- ‘silent’ letters
- unusual letter strings
- word families.
It includes all the spelling requirements of the English National Curriculum Years 2 to 6,
and revises spelling taught in Year 1. Children will bring home a 'Spelling Log'.
At different point each week, they will be given time and support to identify the words
that they find difficult to spell (their 'tricky spellings').
They will record their own list in their log and be taught how to identify challenging graphemes
and how to practise them in an engaging way.
Carrying a 'Spelling Log' home allows children extra time
to review and practise their unique list of 'tricky spellings'.
The more they can look at, talk about and write the words,
the more they will internalise challenging spelling patterns.
Over time, all spelling will improve.
It is important to understand that the words are learned to be internalised
and applied in all writing, not to be tested.
Formal spelling tests have been replaced by the 'quick checks' used throughout the week
to support teaching and learning of spellings.
Own Books
Own Books is an initiative we are lucky to be a part of.
OWN BOOKS is an innovative book recycling project to help young children
without books have their own books at home.
What the project aims to do
- Encourage young children to develop an early love of books and reading through choosing and having their own books at home.
- Allow children to select one or two books a week for themselves, from the age appropriate categories, to take home.
- Avoid any need to buy or obligation to return the books.
- Remove any stress and financial constraints on parents over acquisition of books. Encourage parents to read with their children at home.
The Children choose their own books to take home and keep ... OR return, if they wish ...
it's their choice ...
School Library
We are lucky to have a well-stocked library where children can access a wide range
of fiction and non-fiction books.
Part of the library area is dedicated to our Accelerated Reader programme.
This houses a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books that the children choose to enjoy.
The other part of the library area is focused on Non-fiction, reference books that are used to
enhance the children’s knowledge on a wide range of subjects.
These cover History, Geography, Art, DT, Science, Computing and RE.
Each classroom also has access to a set of high-quality 'recommended reads' for the relevant age
groups and there are many opportunities across the day for children to read.
Time is taken within the school day for children to be read to by their teachers too,
e.g. through Guided Reading and shared class texts.
All children are encouraged to select books from the classroom, library or home
to share with their parents to encourage a love of reading.
We ask for our children to read at least 3 times per week from home,
and to record this in the online reading diary.
Celebrating Reading
It is fundamental for us to celebrate our love of reading at Whitnash and we do this in as many
different ways as we can. Every year, we do this through a series of reading based events.
Examples are: a termly 'BoomReadathon’, focus Reading Weeks
and participation in the annual World Book Day in March.
As well as these big events, we celebrate reading each week.
This entails a weekly word count competition which links to Accelerated Reader.
Words are counted weekly and each class strive to reach their Millionaire status.
Individuals can also achieve their personal millions.
Both are awarded with a certificate and celebrated on the weekly newsletter.
Writing at Whitnash
Each year group follows the
National Curriculum Programmes of Study.
We see English as not just a stand-alone subject,
but part of every subject
and the school's curriculum.
We want our children to write
for a meaningful purpose and,
where possible,
through first hand experiences and visits.
We make use of high-quality texts
to inspire our children to write - picking texts that
are both challenging for the children, engaging
and offer good models for their own work.
We follow ‘Talk4 Writing’ as our chosen
whole-school writing approach,
which enables the
children to understand different text types
and how they are structured.
Teachers review the work developed by children
and identify how they can improve
and enhance their writing.
Independence is also developed, with the
children reviewing their own writing,
re-editing and developing final drafts.
Information about how children’s work is marked,
can be found in our Feedback Policy
under the policy section of this website.
For more information about our
intent, implementation and impact
of writing at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Reading at Whitnash
When our children leave Whitnash,
we want them to be
fluent and confident readers.
We want them to see value
in reading for pleasure, reading for knowledge
and reading for necessity.
We want them to seek out non-fiction texts
to answer their curiosity about their world,
poetry to enjoy and speak to them,
as well as enjoy a rich diet
of high-quality fiction texts.
We believe that the power of reading
is invaluable for our children
and strive to ensure that they leave us
being confident and passionate readers.
We use Accelerated Reader to enhance
the children’s love of reading.
The children choose a book from
the wide selection available.
After reading their chosen books,
they complete a quiz to check
their comprehension.
For more information about our
intent, implementation and impact
of reading at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Phonics at Whitnash
Phonics is an effective way
of teaching children to read.
By ensuring high quality phonics teaching,
we want to improve literacy levels and give
all children a solid base to build on
as they progress through school.
Through phonics children are taught how to:
- recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes
- identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’
- blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word
Children can then use this knowledge
to ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see.
This is the first important step in learning to read.
At Whitnash we use Read, Write Inc. (RWI)
as our phonic scheme.
Read, Write Inc., was validated by the
Department for Education (DfE)
in December 2021.
We begin teaching phonics
in the Autumn Term in Reception
and children make rapid progress in their
reading journey, as a result of our structured,
daily Read, Write Inc. teaching.
Children begin by learning the main sounds
heard in the English Language
and how they can be represented,
as well as learning
‘common exception’ words.
Common exception words are a group of words that appear commonly in both texts
and spoken language,
but which can't be decoded
using normal phonics rules.
Through the delivery
of Read Write Inc. programme,
we expect all children to:
- reach the expected standard of the national phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.
- develop reading fluency and read with comprehension.
- develop co-operative behaviour and articulate their ideas and understanding.
- spell and write with confidence.
What is the
‘Phonics Screening Check’?
By the end of Year 1, most children will have
mastered using phonics to decode and blend
when reading and segment when spelling.
In Year 1 all children are screened using the
national phonics screening check.
In the Summer Term (June), teachers administer
the national check. This is undertaken on a
one-on-one basic with each pupil.
The phonics screening check contains 40 words
divided into two sections of 20 words.
Both sections contain a mixture of real words
and pseudo-words.
Pseduo-words are words that are phonically
decodable but are not actual words
with an associated meaning.
Pseudo-words are included in the check
specifically to assess whether a child
can decode a word using their phonics skills.
All pseudo-words/ Alien words in the check are
accompanied by a picture
of an imaginary creature.
Children are taught that when a word has a
creature next to it, it is a pseudo-word.
This is to ensure that they are not trying to match
the pseudo-word to a word in their vocabulary.
The check is designed to give teachers
information on how a child
is progressing in phonics.
It will help to identify whether a child
needs additional support at this stage
so that they do not fall behind
in this vital early reading skill
and record whether their response
to each of the 40 words is correct.
Each pupil is awarded a mark between 0 and 40.
The phonics screening check
is a check of a child’s phonics knowledge.
It helps your school confirm
whether each child is making the
progress expected in the national curriculum.
If a pupil does not meet the expected standard
at the end of year 1,
a programme of support is put in place,
which involves the continuation of the
Read, Write Inc programme,
as well as additional 1:1 support.
Children are then required to re-take
the phonics screening check in Year 2.
In Year 2, phonics continues
to be revisited for all children
to ensure mastery of the phonetic code
and any child who does not meet age related
expectations will continue to receive support
to close identified gaps.
For more information about our
intent, implementation and impact
of phonics at Whitnash,
please see the link at top of page.
Parental Support
Phonics works best when children are given
plenty of encouragement and learn
to enjoy reading and books.
Parents play a very important part
in helping with this.
Parents can highlight these sounds
when they read with their child.
Teaching how sounds match with letters
is likely to start with individual letters
such as ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ and then will move on to
two-letter sounds such as ‘ee’, ‘ch’ and ‘ck’.
Parent workshops are held in both Reception
(Early Years Foundation Stage) and Year 1
to inform and support parents and carers
with our phonics programme.
Our Home / School Agreement,
highlights how crucial weekly reading
and phonics practices is at home.
We expect all parents to support their children’s
development in this way and record home
reading in children’s online reading diary.
With all books, we ask parents to encourage
their child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words
and then blend the sounds together
from left to right rather than looking
at the pictures to guess.
Once your child has read an unfamiliar word
parents can talk about what it means
and help their child to follow the story.
Class teachers will also be able to suggest books
with the right level of phonics for each child. These books are often called ‘decodable readers’
because the story is written with words made up
of the letters your child has learnt.
Children will be able to work out new words
from their letters and sounds,
rather than just guessing.
Whitnash Primary use ‘book bags’
and a reading record.
At Whitnash Primary, our reading record/diary
is a user-friendly online App,
which is a great way
for teachers and parents to communicate
about what children have read.
The reading record can tell parents whether
their child has enjoyed a particular book
and shows problems or successes
they have had, either at home or at school.
This information is analysed by class teachers,
including the quantity of reading
a child is undertaking at home.
Spelling at Whitnash
At Whitnash we have introduced
the Read Write Inc. approach for Spelling.
This is aimed at children in Years 2 to 6
who have completed Read Write Inc.
Phonics programme and have met
the English National Curriculum expectations
for reading in Year 2.
Direct teaching underpins the programme.
Spelling is taught
cumulatively and systematically,
with deliberate, focused practice.
Constant revision, practice and 'quick checks'
are key to this approach.
The spelling programme:
- makes sense of the most complex alphabetic code in the world- 150 spellings of 44 speech sounds.
- builds upon teaching strategies and spelling activities from Read Write Inc. Phonics
- is organised in daily, 15-minute well-paced lessons
- provides plenty of writing practice, and 'quick check' assessments with a clear record of children’s progress.
The programme’s
core activities teach:
- alternative spellings of vowels
- alternative spellings of consonants
- homophones
- the impact of adding prefixes and suffixes to root words
- spelling plural nouns
- ‘silent’ letters
- unusual letter strings
- word families.
It includes all the spelling requirements of the
English National Curriculum Years 2 to 6,
and revises spelling taught in Year 1.
Children will bring home a 'Spelling Log'.
At different point each week, they will be given
time and support to identify the words that they
find difficult to spell (their 'tricky spellings').
They will record their own list in their log and be
taught how to identify challenging graphemes
and how to practise them in an engaging way.
Carrying a 'Spelling Log' home allows children
extra time to review and practise
their unique list of 'tricky spellings'.
The more they can look at, talk about
and write the words,
the more they will internalise
challenging spelling patterns.
Over time, all spelling will improve.
It is important to understand that the words
are learned to be internalised and applied
in all writing, not to be tested.
Formal spelling tests have been replaced by
the 'quick checks' used throughout the week
to support teaching and learning of spellings.
Own Books
Own Books is an initiative
we are lucky to be a part of.
OWN BOOKS is an innovative book recycling
project to help young children without books
have their own books at home.
What the project aims to do
- Encourage young children to develop an early love of books and reading through choosing and having their own books at home.
- Allow children to select one or two books a week for themselves, from the age appropriate categories, to take home.
- Avoid any need to buy or obligation to return the books.
- Remove any stress and financial constraints on parents over acquisition of books. Encourage parents to read with their children at home.
The Children choose their own books
to take home and keep ...
OR return, if they wish ... it's their choice ...
School Library
We are lucky to have a well-stocked library
where children can access a wide range
of fiction and non-fiction books.
Part of the library area is dedicated to our
Accelerated Reader programme.
This houses a wide range
of fiction and non-fiction books
that the children choose to enjoy.
The other part of the library area is focused on
Non-fiction, reference books that are used
to enhance the children’s knowledge
on a wide range of subjects.
These cover History, Geography, Art, DT,
Science, Computing and RE.
Each classroom also has access to a set of
high-quality 'recommended reads' for the
relevant age groups and there are many
opportunities across the day for children to read.
Time is taken within the school day for children
to be read to by their teachers too, e.g. through
Guided Reading and shared class texts.
All children are encouraged to select books
from the classroom, library or home
to share with their parents
to encourage a love of reading.
We ask for our children to read
at least 3 times per week from home,
and to record this in the online reading diary.
Celebrating Reading
It is fundamental for us to celebrate
our love of reading at Whitnash
and we do this
in as many different ways as we can.
Every year, we do this through
a series of reading based events.
Examples are:
a termly 'BoomReadathon’,
focus Reading Weeks
and participation in the annual
World Book Day in March.
As well as these big events,
we celebrate reading each week.
This entails a weekly word count competition
which links to Accelerated Reader.
Words are counted weekly and each class
strive to reach their Millionaire status.
Individuals can also achieve
their personal millions.
Both are awarded with a certificate
and celebrated on the weekly newsletter.
Writing at Whitnash
Each year group follows the National Curriculum Programmes of Study.
We see English as not just a stand-alone subject, but part of every subject and the school's curriculum. We want our children to write for a meaningful purpose and, where possible, through first hand experiences and visits. We make use of high-quality texts to inspire our children to write - picking texts that are both challenging for the children, engaging and offer good models for their own work.
We follow ‘Talk4 Writing’ as our chosen whole-school writing approach, which enables the children to understand different text types and how they are structured.
Teachers review the work developed by children and identify how they can improve and enhance their writing. Independence is also developed, with the children reviewing their own writing, re-editing and developing final drafts. Information about how children’s work is marked, can be found in our Feedback Policy under the policy section of this website.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of writing at Whitnash, please see the link at top of page.
Reading at Whitnash
When our children leave Whitnash, we want them to be fluent and confident readers. We want them to see value in reading for pleasure, reading for knowledge and reading for necessity. We want them to seek out non-fiction texts to answer their curiosity about their world, poetry to enjoy and speak to them, as well as enjoy a rich diet of high-quality fiction texts. We believe that the power of reading is invaluable for our children and strive to ensure that they leave us being confident and passionate readers.
We use Accelerated Reader to enhance the children’s love of reading. The children choose a book from the wide selection available. After reading their chosen books, they complete a quiz to check their comprehension.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of reading at Whitnash, please see the link at top of page.
Phonics at Whitnash
Phonics is an effective way of teaching children to read. By ensuring high quality phonics teaching, we want to improve literacy levels and give all children a solid base to build on as they progress through school. Through phonics children are taught how to:
- recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes
- identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’
- blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word
Children can then use this knowledge to ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see.
This is the first important step in learning to read.
At Whitnash we use Read, Write Inc. (RWI) as our phonic scheme.
Read, Write Inc., was validated by the Department for Education (DfE) in December 2021.
We begin teaching phonics in the Autumn Term in Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey, as a result of our structured, daily Read, Write Inc. teaching. Children begin by learning the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘common exception’ words. Common exception words are a group of words that appear commonly in both texts and spoken language, but which can't be decoded using normal phonics rules.
Through the delivery of Read Write Inc. programme, we expect all children to:
- reach the expected standard of the national phonics screening check at the end of Year 1.
- develop reading fluency and read with comprehension.
- develop co-operative behaviour and articulate their ideas and understanding.
- spell and write with confidence.
What is the ‘Phonics Screening Check’?
By the end of Year 1, most children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national phonics screening check.
In the Summer Term (June), teachers administer the national check. This is undertaken on a one-on-one basic with each pupil.
The phonics screening check contains 40 words divided into two sections of 20 words.
Both sections contain a mixture of real words and pseudo-words.
Pseduo-words are words that are phonically decodable but are not actual words with an associated meaning.
Pseudo-words are included in the check specifically to assess whether a child can decode a word using their phonics skills.
All pseudo-words/ Alien words in the check are accompanied by a picture of an imaginary creature. Children are taught that when a word has a creature next to it, it is a pseudo-word. This is to ensure that they are not trying to match the pseudo-word
to a word in their vocabulary.
The check is designed to give teachers information on how a child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether a child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill. record whether their response to each of the 40 words is correct. Each pupil is awarded a mark between 0 and 40. The phonics screening check is a check of a child’s phonics knowledge. It helps your school confirm whether each child is making the progress expected in the national curriculum.
If a pupil does not meet the expected standard at the end of year 1, a programme of support is put in place, which involves the continuation of the Read, Write Inc programme, as well as additional 1:1 support. Children are then required to re-take the phonics screening check in Year 2. In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited for all children to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps.
For more information about our intent, implementation and impact of phonics at Whitnash, please find see the link at top of page.
Parental Support
Phonics works best when children are given plenty of encouragement and learn to enjoy reading and books.
Parents play a very important part in helping with this.
Parents can highlight these sounds when they read with their child. Teaching how sounds match with letters is likely to start with individual letters such as ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ and then will move on to two-letter sounds such as ‘ee’, ‘ch’ and ‘ck’.
Parent workshops are held in both Reception (Early Years Foundation Stage) and Year 1 to inform and support parents and carers
with our phonics programme.
Our Home /School Agreement, highlights how crucial weekly reading and phonics practices is at home. We expect all parents to support their children’s development in this way and record home reading in children’s online reading diary.
With all books, we ask parents to encourage their child to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words and then blend the sounds together from left to right rather than looking at the pictures to guess. Once your child has read an unfamiliar word parents can talk about what it means and help their child to follow the story.
Class teachers will also be able to suggest books with the right level of phonics for each child. These books are often called ‘decodable readers’ because the story is written with words made up of the letters your child has learnt. Children will be able to work out
new words from their letters and sounds, rather than just guessing.
Whitnash Primary use ‘book bags’ and a reading record. At Whitnash Primary, our reading record/diary is a user-friendly online App, which is a great way for teachers and parents to communicate about what children have read. The reading record can tell parents whether their child has enjoyed a particular book and shows problems or successes they have had, either at home or at school.
This information is analysed by class teachers, including the quantity of reading a child is undertaking at home.
Spelling at Whitnash
At Whitnash we have introduced the Read Write Inc. approach for Spelling. This is aimed at children in Years 2 to 6 who have completed Read Write Inc. Phonics programme and have met the English National Curriculum expectations for reading in Year 2.
Direct teaching underpins the programme. Spelling is taught cumulatively and systematically, with deliberate, focused practice. Constant revision, practice and 'quick checks' are key to this approach.
The spelling programme:
- makes sense of the most complex alphabetic code in the world- 150 spellings of 44 speech sounds.
- builds upon teaching strategies and spelling activities from Read Write Inc. Phonics
- is organised in daily, 15-minute well-paced lessons
- provides plenty of writing practice, and 'quick check' assessments with a clear record of children’s progress.
The programme’s core activities teach:
- alternative spellings of vowels
- alternative spellings of consonants
- homophones
- the impact of adding prefixes and suffixes to root words
- spelling plural nouns
- ‘silent’ letters
- unusual letter strings
- word families.
It includes all the spelling requirements of the English National Curriculum Years 2 to 6, and revises spelling taught in Year 1.
Children will bring home a 'Spelling Log'. At different point each week, they will be given time and support to identify the words that they find difficult to spell (their 'tricky spellings'). They will record their own list in their log and be taught how to identify challenging graphemes and how to practise them in an engaging way.
Carrying a 'Spelling Log' home allows children extra time to review and practise their unique list of 'tricky spellings'. The more they can look at, talk about and write the words, the more they will internalise challenging spelling patterns. Over time, all spelling will improve.
It is important to understand that the words are learned to be internalised and applied in all writing, not to be tested. Formal spelling tests have been replaced by the 'quick checks' used throughout the week to support teaching and learning of spellings.
Own Books
Own Books is an initiative we are lucky to be a part of.
OWN BOOKS is an innovative book recycling project to help young children without books have their own books at home.
What the project aims to do
- Encourage young children to develop an early love of books and reading through choosing and having their own books at home.
- Allow children to select one or two books a week for themselves, from the age appropriate categories, to take home.
- Avoid any need to buy or obligation to return the books.
- Remove any stress and financial constraints on parents over acquisition of books. Encourage parents to read with their children at home.
The Children choose their own books to take home and keep ... OR return, if they wish ... it's their choice ...
School Library
We are lucky to have a well-stocked library where children can access a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books.
Part of the library area is dedicated to our Accelerated Reader programme. This houses a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books that the children choose to enjoy. . The other part of the library area is focused on Non-fiction, reference books that are used
to enhance the children’s knowledge on a wide range of subjects. These cover History, Geography, Art, DT, Science, Computing and RE.
Each classroom also has access to a set of high-quality 'recommended reads' for the relevant age groups and there are many opportunities across the day for children to read. Time is taken within the school day for children to be read to by their teachers too, e.g. through Guided Reading and shared class texts.
All children are encouraged to select books from the classroom, library or home to share with their parents to encourage a love of reading. We ask for our children to read at least three times per week from home, and to record this in the online reading diary.
Celebrating Reading
It is fundamental for us to celebrate our love of reading at Whitnash and we do this in as many different ways as we can.
Every year, we do this through a series of reading based events. Examples are: a termly 'BoomReadathon’,
focus Reading Weeks and participation in the annual World Book Day in March.
As well as these big events, we celebrate reading each week. This entails a weekly word count competition which links to
Accelerated Reader. Words are counted weekly and each class strive to reach their Millionaire status.
Individuals can also achieve their personal millions. Both are awarded with a certificate and celebrated on the weekly newsletter.
Rocky The Reading Racoon
This is Rocky and Rocky loves to read. He is hoping all the children are going to help him read as many books as they can throughout the year but not only that, he hopes that he will help them understand what they are reading. As the children take a quiz on Accelerated Reader, he will check to see if they have understood what they have read, and if they have, they get to colour one of the books on their lovely bookmarks.
When they have successfully quizzed
50 books, they get their Bronze certificate,
100 books, they get their Silver and if they reach an amazing 150 books,
they earn their gold certificate.
Click blue buttons for more information.
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