Curriculum

At Weaverham Forest Primary School all children have a right to a broad, balanced and relevant education which provides continuity and progression and takes individual differences into account. Work in Weaverham Forest Primary School is planned to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014.

As a school, we plan, develop and evaluate our curriculum regularly to ensure it is creative and challenging. All subjects and associated learning tasks are relevant to our children in our setting, meaning experiences and opportunities are tailored to what we feel would benefit our children most.

Specific subjects enlist the support of well-known resources and programs, with others having the curriculum planned out and resourced by our experienced staff

The topics each class will cover during the year can be found in the document list below. More detailed information can be found in the objective maps below and on the class pages.

You can view the Curriculum Policy on our Policies Page.

Reading

If you know Weaverham Forest, you will know a love of reading and books is a thread throughout our school. We have spent an enormous amount of thought, energy and money promoting a love of reading over a long period time. Please allow us to detail what we do in school, but also what we need you to do at home.

What we do….

Nursery

Children are encouraged to develop a love of reading through;

*Books throughout the environment

*Books shared (fiction and non- fiction) with the children during keyworker time and during continuous provision.

*Engaging in conversations about stories,

*Learning new vocabulary

*Being present in a language-rich environment

*Enjoying and sharing nursery rhymes, action songs and other chants.

*Role play stories

*Talk for Writing that is used to encourage them to retell stories

*Helicopter stories that are used to encourage them to tell their own stories

*Phonological awareness that is developed through activities

*Reading for Pleasure books that are available to take home

Reception and Year 1

In Reception, your child starts their reading journey through the teaching and application of our Synthetic Phonics Program, Sounds Write. Children engage in daily phonics sessions whereby the emphasis is on the sound(s) within a word, and this can see them building words, finding sounds and applying their understanding of sounds in short blast writing.

Following on from their daily phonics session, children then read phoneme-matched quality texts that include specific focus sounds of the week. This takes place every day (5 times a week) in a group of no more than 6 to an adult. Using a paired-practice approach of reader and pointer, it allows children to put their learning into practice instantly, and across 5 days. We are very proud to be able to offer this reading experience to ensure reading is a high priority within our school from the youngest of ages.

The phoneme-matched text is sent home at the end of each week to be read and reinforced. Alongside this, children also take home a Reading for Pleasure text every week, across a range of genres and story syles. We encourage this to be read together with an adult at a time and place the child desires..

We feel this high challenge of phonetically-linked and decodable quality texts, that match their current learning, alongside the encouragement of engaging in the listening in of adults reading , promotes a love for books at the earliest opportunity.

For those that require it, additional reading interventiopns are provided to hone in on any of the weekly sounds that are proving more challenging than others.

Revisiting books with an adult both in school and at home allows for repetition which leads to greater acquisition of new vocabulary because children pick up new information with each re-read. Children will change their phoneme-matched reading and reading for pleasure book once a week.

Each child is presented with an online reading record where reading at home should be recorded.

The children in Reception and Year 1 are also exposed to a ‘print-rich’ environment of signs, labels, books, key words, display and role play that all give opportunities for reading

Each class also has a book area where children can enjoy sharing books, listening to stories and reading for pleasure in their own time.

Where time allows, children will be listened to individually by the class teacher or TA on a rolling programme

All English projects are linked to high quality texts

Adults read daily to the whole class, where possible, more than once a day

Year 2

IN THE AUTUMN TERM:

Children continue to engage in daily phonics sessions whereby the emphasis is on the sound(s) within a word, and this can see them building words, finding sounds and applying their understanding of sounds in short blast writing. Focus sounds that require reinfocement usually come from those that proved generally a challenge through the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

Immediately after their daily phonics session, children read phoneme-matched quality texts that include specific focus sounds of the week. This takes place every day (5 times a week) as a whole class group, with the texts made up of predominantly non-fiction books (information texts based around countries of the world). Children work in talk partners that change weekly to ensure a mixed ability approach to reading fluency and comprehension is in place. The continuation of daily reading sessions means they are putting their learning into practice instantly, and across 5 days. We remain very very proud to be able to offer this reading experience to ensure reading continues to have a high priority within our school as children develop their reading fluency and comprehension..

In addition, each child is assigned a text linked to their current general reading ability (irrespective of phonic teaching), which is formulated through the Benchmark Reading Assessment. These are sent home weekly and only reinforced should adults want to at home. These present a lesser challenge to some readers, but are there for those children who still struggle with phoneme-matched texts or want an alternative to these during the week. These are independently selected by children.

FROM SPRING TERM

Daily phonics transitions into daily sessions that access our Pathways to Spell program (a progressive spelling scheme). These take place every day for a similar amount of time as phonics previously did.

Additonal phonics interventions are provided for children who require some support, likely those children that failed the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

Children with gaps in their phonic knowledge will continue to receive reading books matched to their phonic ability

All children access a whole class reading session daily. These are linked to a different quality text per half term and are followed up with group reading sessions.Both fleuncy and comprehension are developed during this time.

Where time allows, children will be listened to individually by the class teacher or TA on a rolling programme

Key Stage 2

By now many children are moving on to choosing their own books from the school library

Books in the library are by real authors and are a mix of fiction and non-fiction texts The children choose their own books from their band

There is a broad range of new and current fiction to provide breadth and depth of reading

There is a strong reading spine throughout the school in English and Reading sessions

Each English project is based on a high quality text, often a picture book Weekly whole class reading, followed by guided group sessions

Years 4 to 6 access Reading Plus to support the development of reading fluency Poetry is taught termly – the children access a variety of poems

Interventions for children who require additional phonics teaching Teachers read to children daily

Termly children are introduced to new recommended books

Teaching staff are able to make recommendations to new books and authors Volunteers invited to school to read with children who need to develop their fluency

Whole School

Engaging projects based on high quality texts. In the past we have used The Invisible, The Dot, The Day the Crayons Quit and Tribe of Kids – to name but a few! Many lessons such as PSHE and No Outsiders are based on a text or picture book Theme days such as World Book Day, Roald Dahl Day, National Poetry Day are celebrated each year

A yearly update of books to the library – this year’s focus will be the purchase of non-fiction

Termly books chosen by the staff to share with children Promotion of the Summer Reading Challenge

A significant investment in phonetically linked books to match the ‘Sounds Write’ phonic scheme

Each year the children take part in reviewing the books for the Kate Greenaway Award

Author/poet visits throughout the year

Project books ordered from the Education Library Service to match class projects Time for children to ‘just enjoy’ reading

Children have access to comics, children’s newspapers and magazines Prior to COVID ‘Reading Cafes’

Following your responses to the questionnaire

This letter should explain what we do in school. We think you’ll agree, it’s quite a lot! We are setting up a reading shed for parents to swap books from home

The purchase of more non-fiction books for the library

A sponsored read later in the year

What we need from you

Reading should be a daily habit.

We would like to insist that pupils engage with reading, with you or independently, for at least 10 minutes a day outside of school.

We will expect this recorded in their reading records. In KS1 and Year 3, parents should ensure a record is made in the reading record.

In KS2, we will expect pupils to keep a record and parents to sign for their child daily We intend to be as insistent as possible that this happens.

We recognise that there are many ways into reading and therefore from now on, when pupils are ‘learning to read independently,’ we will accept many forms of engagement in reading including: a child reading to their parent from a school library book; a child reading a non-banded book from home or school; a parent reading a book to their child. There are many ways in which you can help your child enjoy reading first and foremost, and secondly learn to read. All we would ask is that you record this in the reading record and aim to find a productive balance between other texts and our banded books; reading to them and having them read to you; reading pictures and reading text; talking about books and reading books.

Once pupils have become independent readers, we need them to maintain and grow the habit of reading and to broaden their experience of reading. We accept that children might read different texts through the week but are keen that, once they have a book that they enjoy, that they do work through it rapidly enough that they engage and maintain their interest in it. Please note our commitment to children’s reading has very little to do with narrow educational aims such as SATS and everything to do with your children developing a love of reading and learning!

We cannot stress enough that we all need to work together to make this happen. We thank you again for your continued support and look forward to seeing the progress towards every child reading every day.

Thank you for your support

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