English

English Curriculum Aims

At Horsley Woodhouse Primary School we believe that learning should be meaningful and taught within a context.  With this in mind we link our English teaching with our topic work wherever possible.  English skills are applied within topic lessons and opportunities to write across a range of genres for a wide variety of reasons are provided within topic lessons.

In Reception and KS1 classes, children take part in daily ‘Read Write Inc’ phonics sessions to learn the sounds and decoding and encoding skills.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar is taught in meaningful contexts through English and guided reading. 

Shared reading takes place in all classes throughout the school every week. Children then complete follow-up tasks to develop comprehension skills.

Spoken language objectives are delivered throughout our whole curriculum, not just in English lessons. We encourage our pupils to speak clearly and confidently and articulate their views and opinions.

Phonics

RWI Curriculum Aims

Pupils learn to read easily and fluently through systematic Read Write Inc sessions in Reception and KS1. This is an inclusive literacy programme for all children learning to read and includes both a reading and a writing focus. We aim to teach the children to:

• apply the skill of blending phonemes in order to read words.
• segment words into their constituent phonemes in order to spell words.
• learn that blending and segmenting words are reversible processes.
• read high frequency words that do not conform to regular phonic patterns.
• read texts and words that are within their phonic capabilities as early as possible.
• decode texts effortlessly so all their resources can be used to comprehend what they read.
• spell effortlessly so that all their resources can be directed towards composing their writing