English Curriculum

English is a vital means of communication; this is why English is at the centre of our curriculum at William Fletcher. Through language in all its forms, (the spoken word, stories and writing) our children develop their understanding of concepts, connect areas in their learning and learn to express their thoughts and feelings.

The core skills of English are developed through daily literacy lessons and the wider curriculum. In every subject taught at William Fletcher the children are exposed to a wide vocabulary, enabling them to build their own bank of words that give them the skills to express themselves effectively in a broad range of contexts.

Reading

We place great emphasis on reading at William Fletcher because we want all children to develop a life-long love for reading. To achieve this, we provide a wide range of reading activities for all children.

Teachers read a wide range of written material to the children including fiction and non-fiction, stories, poetry, newspaper articles and reports. Children enjoy weekly visits to the school library to choose books to read at school and at home.

All children from Foundation Stage to year 6 are asked to read a book that matches their stage of reading development at home, every day for at least 10 minutes.

For further information about our approach to reading please read our school reading policy here.

To help with your child’s reading at home, we would recommend using VIPERS. A reading comprehension technique that could be used to support their development.

Please visit the following two links for more information:

Phonics is a method used to teach children how to read and write by developing their ability to hear and identify different sounds used in the English language. At William Fletcher we used the phonic scheme Essential Letters and Sounds. Children in Foundation Stage up to year 2 have daily phonic lessons, each session is engaging, short and well planned to enable the children to revisit previous learning, learn new sounds, practicing and applying their learning to writing words and sentences.

Further information about the teaching of Phonics at William Fletcher can be found on the EYFS page of our website or by clicking here.

Phonics Screening check

During the summer term, children in year 1 across the country are tested on their phonic knowledge. This helps teachers to identify those children who will require additional support and practice as they move into year 2. We make the phonics check a low-key event in order to minimise the anxiety and stress that children may potentially feel. Children are asked to read 40 words from a list using their phonic knowledge. Parents are informed as to whether their child has met the expected standard in phonics at the end of the academic year.

At the beginning of the academic year we hold a phonics session for parents and carers where we explain how you can support your child at home on their reading journey, including supporting their learning of phonics. Staff are always keen to talk to parents about reading so please do contact your childs class teacher if you would like further help with supporting your child at home.

Writing is an important means of expressing ideas, storing and communicating information. We provide children with a wide range of writing experiences for a range of purposes, such as stories, poetry, newspaper reports, diaries, plays, recounts and explanation texts. We teach writing through high quality texts, exploring how authors use key language devices in their writing. For further information about our approach to writing please read our school Writing policy, Handwriting policy and Grammar, spelling and punctuation policy.