Aims of our English programme

At Fawbert & Barnard Infants School, we believe that a high quality English curriculum should inspire and develop our children's love of reading and writing. We use the highly successful Read Write Inc. Phonics programme to teach our children to read, write and spell from Nursery.

Pupil definition: Read Write Inc / English teaches us to read and write

What 'Read Write Inc' looks like at F&B

What English looks like at F&B

English outcomes at F&B

Our children do well in the phonics screening check in Year 1 and by Year 2, the majority are fluent readers with

 Our children do well in the phonics screening check in Year 1 and by Year 2, the majority are fluent readers with the best chance of success in their end of Key Stage assessments.  

Through the high-quality teaching of reading and writing we aspire for all pupils to make sufficient or accelerated progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations.

We aim for children to gain the invaluable skill of being able to read and understand a wide range of texts and genres by the time they leave Key Stage 1. We have a strong belief that through the enjoyable, rich reading experiences and opportunities we provide we can encourage children to develop a passion to read for their own pleasure. We know reading is the key to accessing all other areas of the curriculum and through the provision of regular opportunities for children to practise reading in different contexts we hope this will enable them to thrive in all areas of learning.

We equip children to be able to explain their learning and thinking clearly and use subject specific vocabulary correctly and confidently by placing paramount importance in ensuring that ambitious, rich vocabulary is taught throughout the school; both discretely, through the wider curriculum and within conversations with our pupils.

We value the need to prepare children for their next stage within their learning and this is particularly enabled through the progressive way in which phonics, reading and writing is taught throughout the school. Our detailed progression and coverage documents enable any staff member, including staff too new to our school, supply staff or Early Career Teachers to clearly identify what needs to be taught and when. These documents enable staff to know what children should be achieving each half-term in order to meet age related expectations by the end of the year. It ensures teachers plan lessons whereby knowledge can be learnt in small steps and teaching progressively builds on prior knowledge within a year and across year groups.

We want children to be able to know and remember what has been taught to them. We aim to embed learning in their long-term memory for quick retrieval to inform future learning. The way in which learning is presented to children in small steps and in simple form, reduces cognitive load and allows for children to focus solely on what they need to know and remember. 

Support / Resources for parents 

Read Write Inc:

To visit the parent pages on the Ruth Miskin Training website click here. You will find lots of links, documents and other helpful information. 

Parents and carers can access 27 Read Write Inc. Phonics e-book titles for extra practice with their children at home, plus three Fresh Start Anthologies. 62 Speed Sound Practice Sheets are also available to download.  Click here. You will need to create a free account on Oxford Owl for Home to access the e-books.

You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Montessori

At F&B we integrate our RWI phonics teaching with the use of Montessori literacy resources and methodology.  Prior to any work with letters / graphemes we introduce children to the Insets for Design. These help children build up their pencil control and pre writing skills. We add the kinaesthetic experience to the sounds and shapes of letters in the form of the sandpaper letters. Children trace the shape of the letter as they see it, say it and feel it. This give a solid start to recognising as well as reproducing the letters of the alphabet. This knowledge is consolidated when children start using the moveable alphabet. It’s a tray containing all the letters of the alphabet that distinguishes vowels (blue) and consonants (red). The moveable alphabet facilitates the building of short words with direct letter shape and sound correspondence as in cat, bin, frog, pond and so on. The children use collections of suitable objects to remind them of an appropriate word, then sound it out and build the word. Those who have the skill also have an opportunity to then copy the ‘build’ words onto paper.