Our aim at Stainton C of E School is to encourage and nurture children to become confident communicators with high standards of both language and literacy. We firmly believe that all children need to develop the key skills in order to read, but we want all our children to develop a love of reading and to want to read for pleasure. We place high emphasis on speaking and listening as these are the building blocks to successful writing. 

As a school we understand the importance of Reading for Pleasure, so this is promoted across all year groups. Reading for Pleasure is associated with a range of academic, social and emotional benefits. Research has shown that children who are good at reading do it more and learn more compared to less able readers. This is why we encourage all our children to develop a real love of reading as we want every child in our care to succeed and be the best that they can be. Children are supported to develop a love of literature and reading through exposure to a wide range of texts. We place high emphasis on 'book talk' and both staff and pupils offer book recommendations to broaden their horizons and extend their knowledge.

Reading is taught through daily phonics lessons in Early Years and Key Stage 1, where the emphasis is on the children both decoding unfamiliar words as well as speedily recognising familiar printed words. Teachers also listen to children reading in groups and individually. Children are encouraged to engage with the book they are reading through discussion, retelling and asking and answering questions about the text.

Children in EYFS are supported to develop a love of reading by sharing nursery rhymes, poems and stories on a daily basis. Stories are shared on a daily basis in KS1 and 2 through collective worship, as part of our wider curriculum as well as in discrete story time sessions.

In Key Stage 2, reading is taught through both shared and guided reading sessions, where children have the opportunity to share and discuss a text in more detail within small groups. They also have regular reading comprehension sessions, where they practise the key reading skills of predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising.

Children are given many opportunities within English lessons to engage with texts, through sharing, listening and responding to the ideas of others. Children are taught to reflect and 'up level' their work. This is aided through personalised feedback – both verbal and written. Throughout a half term, children are given many opportunities to carry out extended pieces of purposeful writing for an audience.

As well as being focused upon within daily English lessons, grammar, punctuation and spelling/phonics are taught daily in discrete sessions.

In KS2, children are taught specific year group objectives, whilst having additional opportunities to consolidate their personalised spellings.

Across Early Years and KS1 children are grouped according to their phonics phase. This is to provide them with the best high-quality teaching and learning and to ensure that they are receiving bespoke support according to their Phonics level. Phonics is taught across the school using the ‘Twinkl Phonics’ programme. We also follow the Rhino Readers reading scheme which is matched to the Twinkl Phonics programme.

Please explore our English curriculum further by clicking on the icons below. Here you will find more information, as well as guidance on how to support your child at home. If you are a parent of a Nursery or Reception aged child, then please take a look at our early years pages where you will find more information on how we teach phonics and reading in the EYFS and how you can help your child on their first steps on their journey to becoming a competent reader and writer. If you have any questions related to our English curriculum, please speak to Mrs Hope (Reading Lead) or Mrs Wilson (Writing Lead).