English

Reading at Midgley

English literacy is at the heart of our learning and teaching and essential to every area of the curriculum. It is through literacy that concepts are formed and we are able to make sense of the world and our place in it. Children are taught to read in a variety of ways. Each week children read individually and in groups during guided reading lessons; they are also given regular opportunities to share a book with others. Guided reading focuses on the skills of comprehension and critical appreciation. Teachers read a variety of material regularly with the children, fiction and non-fiction, stories, reports, diaries, poems etc. We believe in the importance of exposing children to classic texts at all ages.

We have a home-school reading system called Rising Stars from Reception through to Year 6. We encourage children to read for at least 10 minutes each day at home.

Phonics

We place a strong emphasis on phonics (letter sounds) in the early years of learning to read because we believe this lays the foundations for successful reading. At Midgley, we use Rising Stars Rocket Phonics programme. Rocket Phonics is a DFE validated story based systematic synthetic programme. As we use the Rising Stars Reading scheme, the phonics programme compliments our reading scheme. The documents below show an overview of the year with the sounds that will be taught in each half term.

Reception Rocket Phonics Half Termly Expectations

Year 1 Rocket Phonics Half Termly Expectations

Phonics Screening

During the summer term in Year 1, children nationwide are tested on their phonic knowledge. This test helps us to identify children who have gaps in their phonic knowledge and may need support in Year 2 to develop reading and writing skills. The test is very low-key and the children are not aware that they are being tested. Parents are informed as to whether their child has achieved the national expectation within the child’s end-of-year report.

Additional individual and group tuition in phonics will be given to those children in year 1 and Year 2 who find reading difficult. Year 2 children will be tested again in the summer term.

SPaG - Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Below you will find the whole school SPaG overview and progression document.

SPaG Whole School Overview/Progression Grid

Spelling Shed

Across school we follow the Spelling Shed scheme of learning for the teaching of spellings and as a result, we have already noticed a signifcant improvement in our children's spelling results!

Spelling Shed breaks down the statutory spellings for each year group into weekly practice, allowing teachers to set differentiated assignments and monitor progress. Children are then able to play 'games' that encourage the practice of specific spelling rules. In class, teachers will also use Spelling Shed resources to embed new rules and practice them frequently across all learning. The 'Mastery Zone' initially assesses the children against a baseline and then adapts the activities and spellings provided to each childs specific needs (again, this is done in a fun and engaging format that is accessible to all children).