English

At Lakeside Primary Academy, we believe that every pupil has the right to be able to read, write and communicate with others effectively. English is the main medium through which the rest of the curriculum is learned and taught and a major way in which children interpret the world around them, develop knowledge and understanding and communicate with other people. The teaching of English, in all of its forms, has a high profile within the school.

Phonics and Early Reading

Lakeside Primary Academy are pleased to say we use the Read Write Inc. system for teaching phonics and early reading.

For more information on how and why Read Write Inc. works please click here to access their website.

Our school policy on the teaching of phonics, early reading and writing can be downloaded below:

Our pupils learn to read and write effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme. They progress onto Class, Guided and Reciprocal Reading once they can read with accuracy and speed.

Read Write Inc. Phonics 

The programme is for:

· Pupils in Year R to Year 2 who are learning to read and write

· Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly

· Struggling readers in Years 5 and 6.

In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils learn to:

· Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills

· Read common exception words on sight

· Understand what they read

· Read aloud with fluency and expression

· Write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar

· Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words

· Acquire good handwriting.

 In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning.  This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.  We group pupils homogeneously, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing.  This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing will lag behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.  In Year R we emphasise the alphabetic code.  The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them.  Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly.  This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress.  This learning is consolidated daily.  Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings – common exception words.  We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words.  This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers.  Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher supports their increasingly fluent decoding

  Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to pupils; they are soon able to read these texts for themselves.   Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that pupils quickly learn to write simple words and sentences.  We encourage them to compose each sentence aloud until they are confident to write independently.  We make sure they write every day. Pupils write at the level of their spelling knowledge.  Our aim is for pupils to complete the phonics programme as quickly as possible.  The sooner they complete it, the sooner they will be able to choose books to read at their own interest and comprehension level

Assessing and tracking progress

 We assess all pupils following Read Write Inc. Phonics using the Entry Assessment.  We use this data to assign them to the appropriate stage of Read Write Inc. Phonics.  This gives us a very good indication of how well they are making progress relative to their starting points.  We do this for all pupils, whenever they join us, so we can track all of them effectively, including those eligible for the pupil premium.  For those on the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, we record their starting date and entry point on the tracker to monitor the rate at which they are making progress.  We can also easily identify those who joined the programme later.  We aim for all children to be accurate and speedy readers by the time they enter Key Stage 2. We have high expectations of our pupils’ progress.  We support pupils who have identified special educational needs for however long it takes until they can read.  For example, we identify those who are at risk of falling behind their peers immediately – whatever their age. Trained staff tutor them for 10 minutes every day, using the Read Write Inc. One-to-one tutoring programme.  If a child arrives in Key Stage 2 reading well below their chronological age or with English as an additional language they are taught Read Write Inc. Phonics too.   By the end of Key Stage 1, our aim is that pupils are able to read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed for comprehension.  This means that we can focus on developing their comprehension, preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2.  Their good decoding skills mean that they have a sound strategy for decoding unfamiliar words when they come across them at whatever stage or in any subject, even into secondary school.  

Guided Reading

As pupils secure their early reading skills they are transferred onto our reciprocal reading approach. Pupils will study an age appropriate challenging text on a half termly basis that is delivered as part of a weekly ‘carousel lesson’ whereby pupils are encouraged to practise the vital skills needed to perform well as an independent reader. A consistent pedagogical approach towards the teaching of reading is delivered, which consists daily of some form of reading (either independent reading – using a dialogic approach, teacher reading, pre-reading, reading for fluency or accuracy or pace), text annotation, vocabulary work focusing on morphology and etymology, making precise predictions and summarising, as well as how to accurately answer comprehension questions linked to reading VIPERs (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explain, retrieve) and content domains, also a small group guided reading session using the reciprocal reading approach:

· Predict What are we going to read about in the next section?

· Clarify Which words or phrases do we need to find the meaning of?

· Question Can we ask questions to help us learn more about the text?

· Summarise What are the main ideas from this section?

At Lakeside Primary we use reading VIPERS to help pupils understand how to approach answering reading questions.

VIPERS is an acronym which stands for Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Sequence (Key Stage One) or Summarise (Key Stage Two).

The following pages explain how this concept works and gives you ideas for how each type of question might look for pupils.

KS1 Reading Vipers - supporting children with comprehension skills. Click here to download the guide.

KS2 Reading Vipers - supporting children with comprehension skills. Click here to download the guide.

Talk for Writing and Novel Study

Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that pupils quickly learn to write simple words and sentences.  We encourage them to compose each sentence aloud until they are confident to write independently.  We make sure they write every day. Pupils write at the level of their spelling knowledge

· Write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar

· Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words

· Acquire good handwriting.

During English lessons children will follow the Talk for Writing teaching sequence and this is taught through a novel study approach.

Pupils study an age appropriate challenging text on a half termly basis that exposes them to a range of themes, linked to the topics that they are studying.

Upon introducing a text for the first time, children experience a ‘Launch Day’ whereby activities from the text are brought to life or clues regarding the plot emerge in front of the children in order to hook them in. This ensures that children have some prior knowledge to fall back on before accessing the text. Once the text has been launched, the T4W sequence begins and knowledge of themes and vocabulary as well text genre and plots are developed with the children progressively each year, to ensure the pupils experience a deep, rich and varied diet of literature.

  Grammar and Punctuation

Grammar is embedded within our T4W/Novel Study, so that the grammatical structures can be seen in context of the genre of writing. Washing lines can be seen around school that showcase what a good piece of work should look like, clearly labelling the grammatical structures in context. In KS2 we also deliver discreet punctuation and grammar lessons.

A useful parents guide to punctuation and grammar

Click here to download the guide.

Spelling

From September 2020 KS2 children will use a sounds and syllables approach to spelling. Sound & Syllables teaches children how to spell by building upon what children already know and understand from phonics teaching, the crucial relationship between sounds and spellings. At the heart of Sound & Syllables is a simple is a five step sequence that works with children of all ages and all abilities.

Please download the teaching sequence for teaching spelling below:

Cross Curricular Writing 

English is woven throughout our curriculum. Have a look at some examples of writing across Lakeside below.

Files to Download