Our aim at Stainton School is to encourage and nurture children to become confident communicators with high standards of language and literacy. We firmly believe that speaking and listening are the building blocks to successful writing.

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 English lessons, grammar, punctuation and spelling/phonics (GPS) are taught daily in separate sessions.

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

In KS1, children are grouped according to their phonics phase. Phonics are taught through the use of the ‘Letters and Sounds’ programme and supplemented with additional resources.

Children are encouraged to develop a love of literature and reading through exposure to a wide range of texts. Currently at Stainton School, we subscribe to the ‘Power of Reading’ scheme, where texts are carefully select based upon enjoyment and depth of opportunities.

Reading is taught through daily phonics lessons in Key Stage 1, which teaches the children to both decode unfamiliar words as well as speedily recognise familiar printed words. Teachers also listen to children reading in groups and individually. Children are encouraged to ask and answer questions about the text.

In Key Stage 2, reading is taught through 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.