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)
READING FLUENCY
We value the opportunity for shared reading as the teacher models the reading process to the whole class as an expert, providing the support needed. Sessions are characterised by explicit teaching of specific reading strategies. The children are expected to join in and demonstrate fluency in their reading. Teachers employ a range of different strategies such as:
- Modelled Reading: Teachers read aloud to demonstrate fluent reading using good modelled prosody, which helps children understand how fluent reading sounds and looks.
- Partner Reading: Children are paired to read together, taking turns reading aloud and offering each other feedback on pronunciation and expression.
- Echo Reading: The teacher reads a sentence or passage aloud, and the children repeat it, mimicking the teacher’s fluency, tone, and intonation.
- Think Alouds: By verbalising their thinking while reading a text, teachers demonstrate how good readers actively engage with and make sense of what they read. This helps students develop their own reading strategies and comprehension skills.
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.
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.
