Ealdham Primary School

English

The English curriculum is easiest to think of as speaking and listening, reading and writing.

Speaking & listening.

Speaking and listening permeates every element of school life. A key strength of our curriculum is in the time dedicated across the school to perform in front of large audiences, particularly in our weekly class assemblies which parents and carers are invited to attend.  Pupils are taught and practise how to speak for different occasions and the use of correct English and pronunciation as spoken language underpins reading and writing. Our teachers ensure the continued development of the children's confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills.  

Reading is the bedrock of our school curriculum.

At Ealdham Primary school, we strive to ensure that by the time children move on to their secondary schools, they are able to read fluently and with confidence. We are determined that all children, regardless of background, needs or abilities will make sufficient progress, ensuring they are ready for their next stage of learning. Reading in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 is taught primarily using phonics.  The school follows the ‘Letters and Sounds’ programme and phonics is taught as a discrete lesson everyday from EYFS through KS1. We maintain a strong emphasis on one-to-one reading until children have a secure grasp of phonics and are able to read independently. We use a range of decodable reading books through EYFS and KS1 which are linked to the children's phonics stage and have age- appropriate books in KS2 for children who still need support. Once pupils can decode words and are fluent, the focus moves on to understanding and comprehension.

Our reading curriculum is primarily delivered using the 'Think Aloud' strategy alongside the teaching of phonics.

During these sessions, children are taught the key skills of: retrieval; inference; structure; language choice; purpose/viewpoint and context. Teachers begin their series of lessons with modelled whole class sessions followed by time in groups for children to practise new skills taught through a variety of strategies.

Reading should be a pleasurable activity and time should be devoted at school and home to 'reading for pleasure'. Throughout the week, children have the opportunity to be read to by their teachers, read books of their own choice and take books home to read and discuss. This is key to the development and enjoyment of reading.

Writing

Teachers plan rich and varied writing tasks, which are purposeful and stimulate the enthusiasm and interest of the children.

The tasks often link to the topic being studied at the time. For example, when Year 2 learn about the Great Fire of London as a topic, they might write diary entries inspired by Samuel Pepys.  Our classrooms are dedicated to providing a rich and stimulating environment which inspires and supports with writing, for example by displaying key vocabulary which they can use in their extended work. 

Our teachers ensure that the teaching of writing develops our children's competence as they are taught to plan, revise and evaluate their work. We celebrate their progress and achievements by displaying published work around the school.

Grammar punctuation and spelling is taught systematically to ensure the children have the key skills appropriate for their age. We follow the 'No Nonsense Grammar' and 'No Nonsense Spelling' programmes which are closely matched to the expectations of the National Curriculum.

We provide opportunities for the children to celebrate the fact we live in the wonderful and historic Royal Borough of Greenwich. 

Please click here to view our Phonics Framework

Please click here to view our Reading Policy