English at Victoria Community School

Reading Documentation 

Writing Documentation 

Whole School Progression Maps 

Phonics

At Victoria Community School, we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme  which allows us to follow a systematic synthetic approach to phonics teaching.  Phonics is taught every day in E.Y.F.S., Nursery and Reception, and Key Stage 1, Year 1 and Year 2.  Each lesson is 20 minutes long and contains both a reading and a writing focus.  Decodable reading books are used in reading lessons to develop application of phonic knowledge.  Pupils are given decodable texts as individual reading books which they are able to share with their families at home.  Rapid Catch up Phonics Interventions are in place to support children in becoming secure with Phase 2-5 phonics to enable them to read confidently. 

Link to the Little Wandle website:

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Phonics Progression

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (SPaG)

From Year 2 onwards, we focus on applying phonic knowledge to support the spelling of words and learn different spelling rules and patterns.  Documents such as the ‘Support for Spelling’ programme are used to supplement the PoS in the National Curriculum.  Children in some classes have separate lessons whilst others develop and apply their learning through their daily English lessons.  SPaG tests are completed during Assessment Week each term in all classes from Year 1 to Year 6 to show the children's knowledge and understanding, but also to ascertain any gaps in their learning. 

Reading

The children at Victoria Community School will have a positive attitude towards reading, read for enjoyment and pleasure and develop the life-long skill of reading.  We aspire for our children become confident and independent readers by the end of Key Stage One. We aim for the children to decode unfamiliar words where needed, read fluently, comprehend what they read and relate what they read to their own experiences. We are committed to developing the children’s knowledge of authors and expose children to a variety of high-quality texts to help them recognise that books can offer windows to other worlds. Throughout their school career, the children will meet a wealth of characters and explore different settings. We intend for all our children to develop a rich vocabulary that allows them to play with language, understand meaning and learn how language can be used for a range of purposes. We choose our high-quality texts carefully so that they reflect important and diverse themes that help build on pupils’ cultural capital and celebrate our school context.

To help promote reading at the school, our 'Reading Olympics'  aim to encourage children to develop their enjoyment of books through a series of awards: 

• Bronze - 25 books
• Silver - 50 books
• Gold - 100 books

Children share books at school and at home with their family and record these in their home/school reading journals.    During our Friday Celebration Assemblies, children are awarded their Bronze, Silver or Gold certificates.  

From Year 2 onwards, reading is taught as a whole class for one hour a day following the VIPERS structure, where extracts or entire texts are used.  Various resources are used in these sessions such as 'First News', 'Cracking Comprehension' and 'Reading Detectives' that are targeted at a particular year group.  

Every class has a timetabled 'read aloud' session when the teacher reads a book for a set amount of time without any disruptions!  Many of these books have been selected from Pie Corbett's Reading Spine, whereas other books, including non-narrative and poetry, have been chosen by the teacher.  The children look forward to this special time and they enable them to broaden their vocabulary range using the class' 'Wow Word Board' and the children's Magpie Books in KS2.  

Well-resourced, attractive and interactive reading areas can be found in every classroom.  The children enjoy spending time in there when reading for pleasure and choosing books, comics, newspapers and magazines.  Many reading areas are based on a theme such as outer space or even a World War 2 Anderson shelter!  

Each class focuses on a particular author each half term to develop knowledge of a variety of authors.  We are lucky enough to have author visits in school so children get the chance to meet a real author and all classes visit Burton Library at least once a year.   We work closely with the library to promote reading initiatives such as the Summer Reading Challenge.  

At Victoria, we understand the importance of working with our families to improve and enhance the children's learning opportunities.  Each term we hold a 'reading open session' in every class.  There is a different focus each term but previous sessions have included phonics (for EYFS and KS1), questioning techniques and celebrating achievements.  

Our Library

​​​At Victoria Community School we are lucky to have a library at each of our sites. We provide the children with a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books to choose from when they visit the library once a week with their class teacher. The library is also open after school every evening from 3:30-4:00. Parents and children are invited into the library to share a book or change and borrow books if they would like to. We also have 'Visit trophies', where the children's names are written if they have visited the library after school, 5, 10 or 25 times. These children then recieve a special certifcate in our Friday celebration assembly. 

Writing

At Victoria Community School teachers will guide and nurture each individual on their own personal journey in becoming successful writers.  Children will write clearly, accurately, and coherently adapting language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. A secure understanding of spelling, grammar and punctuation is taught throughout the school. We intend for all children to acquire a rich vocabulary and be able to spell words by effectively applying spelling patterns and rules which they learn.  Teachers will expertly model and provide children with the skills to edit and improve their writing both independently and effectively. We believe that children should be encouraged to take pride in their work, in part by developing a legible, joined handwriting style. Children leave Victoria with a deep understanding of different formats and how to construct them effectively.

Writing Box it Boards

At Victoria, from Year 1 onwards, each class has a writing Box it board. These boards identify the audience and purpose for writing as well as key features, vocabulary and sentences which the children could use in their work. The boards are working and constantly updated daily in lessons to support the children's learning and to promote their independence. Class teachers encourage the children to take ownership of these boards and children add vocabulary to these boards to support their writing. WAGOLL's are also added to the boards to support children's learning. 

Handwriting

As recommended by the British Dyslexia Society, we promote the teaching of cursive handwriting from the end of Year 1.  Children are taught how to form letters correctly from Nursery and begin to join in Year 2, if they are ready.  Intervention strategies are used to develop hand control for those children finding it more difficult.

Spoken Language

At Victoria, we appreciate the importance of effective communication, including non-verbal forms, and this is something that is developed in many lessons as the spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing also.  It is essential that all children are able to communicate effectively with their peers and educators so this is at the heart of our learning, especially in the Early Years.  We aim for our children to:

• Be confident communicators with others for a variety of purposes, such as to seek information or to show their emotions.
• Use discussion in order to learn by listening to, and valuing, other people’s differing views and opinions.
• Acquire the necessary skills to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.
• Be competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, taking part in plays and assemblies, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Assessment

Formative assessment is carried out on a daily basis and provides teachers with up-to-date and accurate information about the specifics of what children do and do not know.  This information allows teachers to modify teaching and learning activities to improve children's attainment.

Summative assessments focus on the outcome at the end of a unit or given period of time.

• Writing assessment - carried out at the end of each writing unit and assessed using either the Staffordshire Writing Skills Grids, the end of key stage teaching assessment frameworks in Years 2 and 6 (T.A.F.s) or the Early Years Foundation Stage profile in Reception 
• Phonics assessment - carried out at each half term in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
• Phonics Screening Check - administered to Year 1 children in June  

Monitoring

Monitoring of English is carried out in different ways. 

• Lesson observations - quality of feedback (teacher-pupil, pupil-pupil and pupil-teacher), and the extent to which this helps to develop pupils understanding.
• Pupil voice 
• Book scrutiny - progression with learning
• Learning walks
• Assessments
• Pupil Progress meetings each term with each teacher and the Headteacher 
• Senior Leaders - data analysis