English

Intent

At St Saviour’s C of E Primary School, it is our intent to develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary through, not only English lessons but in a cross-curricular way. We strive to ensure that all of our pupils receive a well-rounded learning experience when reading, writing, speaking and listening, which will equip them with the fundamental tools to achieve in school and beyond. We aim to immerse pupils in the wonders of high-quality texts to instil a lifelong love for reading, a passion for discovery and the confidence to explore their imagination. We recognise the importance of pupils being able to place texts within their historical and cultural context and to recognise their cultural value.

Reading

At St Saviour’s, we believe whole class reading in KS2 is an effective and inclusive strategy which allows children to access a range of texts and rich vocabulary. In KS2, a greater emphasis is placed on reading comprehension skills.

There is explicit teaching of ‘In the moment of reading’ strategies, which offer a deeper understanding of the text pupils are reading. Children need to be aware of the reading skills they are using in order to give them a greater understanding of what makes a well-rounded reader.

In KS2, there is teaching of the following skills:

Activating prior knowledge skills/background knowledge
Predicting or asking questions
Visualising
Becoming detectives (inference)
Notice meaning breakdowns and repairing
Spotting VIP words (vocabulary)

Bug Club

We are using Bug Club!

Bug Club is a finely-levelled reading scheme that we use in our school to support our reading. Each child has a personalised homepage where they'll find the e-Books they've been allocated by the teacher and motivating rewards. This ensures that each child can find a book at exactly the right level for them. The online reading world ensures children can access independent reading resources anywhere at any time. Reading is the key to our learning and without this skill, children can’t develop or maintain what they have learnt and move on. Reading supports every subject within school.

Each child has a unique homepage, and can log into it by following these steps:

1. Go to www.activelearnprimary.co.uk

2. Enter the login details.

3. Your child’s homepage will appear

Further information about how to login and use Bug Club can be found in the 'User Guide' at the bottom of this page.

Writing

At St Saviour’s, we read high-quality texts to inspire and engage children in the writing process. These texts are from a variety of different genres and are diverse in their viewpoints and authorship, providing a model for our children to aspire to.

Children at St Saviour’s learn how to become confident and articulate writers across a range of text types through a carefully-sequenced learning journey.

Our approach to writing is under-pinned by the four ‘Writing Purposes’:

1. To entertain

2. To inform

3. To persuade

4. To discuss

Letter-join Handwriting Scheme

Letter-join is a whole school handwriting scheme offering a combination of traditional and digital resources. These include classroom presentations, handwriting activities, online games and hundreds of worksheets using either a printed font or a cursive font. Our pupils can log in to the Letter-join website at home on iPads, tablets and computers.

Click on the link here

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

KS2 enjoyed a trip to the theatre as The Old Rep brought the timeless tale of Beauty and the Beast to life.

There were loads of amazing songs and dances- it was truly a magnificent show!

Children meeting the cast of Beauty and The Beast

THE BOOK FACTOR- Autumn 2019

Congratulations to our Book Factor Reading Champions in Year 4, 5 and 6. All pupils took part and competed with each other in 3 tense rounds (Round 1, Semi-Final and the Final). Children were given a book to read and were then quizzed on the book.

A special assembly took place where the Reading Champions from each class were awarded with a Wreck It Journal.

Book Factor Assembly

The Reading Environment here at St Saviour's

KS1 Reading Environment

KS2 Reading Environment

READING FOR PLEASURE

Children are loving their new 'Relax and Read' sessions everyday. The session allows children to self-select books they want to read and independently apply the skills they have been taught in Guided Reading sessions.

GO FOR GOLD!

The Summer Term has arrived and our Reading Challenge has got children buzzing with excitement. We are now at the last hurdle and everyone needs to aim for GOLD! Get your gold Reading Challenges from your teacher and let the Summer Term reading commence.

Well done to everyone who has achieved the Bronze and Silver Awards.

At St Saviour's, we believe Reading is a vital skill, which underpins so much of the curriculum!

Famous Author - Michelle Magorian

Michelle Magorian, author of Goodnight Mister Tom was invited by an ex-pupil, Inaya Parveen to St Saviour's School, to talk about her work as an author. The children were fascinated with her stories of her life and how they influenced her work.

Wizard of Oz

To round off an amazing World Book Week and to celebrate Reading in our school, children were treated with an amazing production of The Wizard of Oz.

The children, cheered, laughed and had an brilliant time.

WORLD BOOK DAY 2019

A range of book characters flooded the corridors, classrooms and even the school hall as children dressed up in their favourite characters as part of World Book Week at St Saviour's.

Not only children but staff also dressed up. It was a wonderful sight!

READING QUIZ MASTERS

Y6 vs Y5 vs Y4 - Let the reading battle commence!

KS2 had an absolutely fantastic time in assembly participating in a World Book Day 2019 quiz!!

The quizzers were challenged with 3 challenging rounds. Round 1 was 'Guess the book title using emoji's'. Round 2 was 'Questions based on a book classes have read during Guided Reading'. Round 3 was 'General book questions'. It came down to the tie break question!

A massive well done to Year 4 who won the quiz.

Thank you to all the children.

Snow Queen visits St Saviour's

The Snow Queen came to St Saviour's when the Hobgoblin Theatre company visited St Saviour's to perform their amazing production. Staff and children were entertained throughout and joined in with the amazing characters.

World Book Week

It is said that something special happens when a child finds the right book. These magical moments are clearly evident at St Saviour’s as children across the school were left in awe and wonder on World Book Day.

Children swapped their school jumpers for more creative outfits from their favourite book characters as wizards, pirates, princesses and superheroes gathered on school grounds. This was an epic finale to what has been a momentous week.

St Saviour’s truly opened the doors to a world of endless possibilities through the power of reading. Classrooms were transformed into various book-related themes as the children were immersed in fun-packed activities.

Reception enjoyed the world of traditional tales; Year 1 delved in to the world of Julia Donaldson; Year 2 were captured by chocolate as they took an imaginary journey to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; Year 3 stepped back in time as they were intrigued by the story of evacuees during WW2; the Avengers assembled in 4SS and 4NR; Year 5 were fascinated by the comedian, actor, TV personality and author David Walliams whilst Year 6 became record breakers as they created their own version of the Guinness World Record book.