Calow Church of England (VC) Primary School
Our aim:
At Calow C of E Primary School, we believe that a strong command of the English language is a fundamental life skill. Through speaking, listening, reading and writing, children learn to communicate effectively and participate fully as members of society; their intellectual, social and emotional and spiritual development is intertwined with these skills, as is their access to the world of education. We enable our pupils to express themselves clearly, creatively and imaginatively, as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry, drama, non-fiction and media texts, and we nurture a love of literature and the spoken word.
Reading Aloud
Building Lifelong Readers at Calow Primary School.
Whether you are at the early stages of your time at Calow Primary School, or in UKS2, we share and encourage life long readers.
Books for Topics have provided a list of age appropriate books for you to enjoy with your child at home. Click on the links and scan the QR code for a story to enjoy a story at home with your child.
Top-Ten-Storytimes-7-11_year_olds.pdf
Top-Ten-Storytimes-to-Enjoy 3 - 7 Year olds.pdf
The Open University have come up with guides and videos to support parents with Reading aloud with your child at home. Please click on the links below:
Reading aloud to children: 7 steps to making it magical.
Supporting_Readers_at_Home_Poster_.pdf
Nursery Rhymes and poetry
Nursery rhymes are extremely valuable to support language and communication skills, build confidence and prepare children for reading and writing as they get older. Scan the QR codes below to listen and enjoy some with your child.
Early Reading, Phonics and Spelling
Phonics is taught for 30 minutes daily in KS1 and also taught regularly in KS2 in reading and spelling sessions when there are new words taught or for those children who are still developing their fluency in reading.
How can I help my child at home?
Click here to find out more about Sounds Write
Click here for ways you can help your child read and write at home using Sounds Write
Click here to download the Sounds Write app for Apple
Long Term Planning for Phonics:
Year R LTP for Phonics 2022 - 2023
Sounds Write
In EYFS and KS1 our teachers have been trained in the phonics programme ‘Sounds-Write’. Our teaching of reading and writing within the school is, therefore, based on the Sounds-Write programme. This begins very early on when children join in Reception and continues until a child is a confident and competent reader and speller. Sounds-Write is used around the world and is one of the DfE approved schemes.
The knowledge of sounds and symbols is an important starting point for understanding and using written language and we believe that a strong and consistent approach to the teaching of phonics is vital for our children to begin to access the rest of the curriculum. This is, however, used in conjunction with many other strategies to help children to begin to read and write.
Sounds Write is a linguistic phonics programme (speech to print) and a systematic phonics programme validated by the DfE in England. It is a highly structured, cumulative, multi sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling across the whole school (Reception to KS2)
The key concepts that students are taught and the three skills they need to master include phonemic manipulation, oral segmenting and blending. Students are taught the Initial Code in Reception and cover the Extended Code and how to read Polysyllabic Words during Year 1 and Year 2. They consolidate this knowledge with a focus on spelling during the rest of KS2.
Please follow this link for more information on how you can help your child at home with Phonics using the Sounds Write approach:
The Phonics Screening Check....What is it?
Spelling and Reading in KS2
As children move from KS1 and into KS2 they move away from daily phonics sessions and uses the skills they have learned in KS1 through their shared reading lessons to develop their understanding of how to read new, exciting vocabulary.
Spelling sessions are taught daily and build on the strategies taught in Sounds Write sessions in KS1. Please see below for some suggestions of ways you might like to support spelling at home.
LKS2 Phonics and Spelling Morning
English Supporting documents:
Please see below for how we teach English at Calow Primary School and some of the exciting things we take part in:
