At Woodthorpe Church of England Primary School, English is at the heart of our curriculum. We want every child to become a confident speaker, fluent and enthusiastic reader and purposeful, independent writer.

We recognise that strong foundations in communication, vocabulary, reading and writing are essential for success across the whole curriculum. 

Our approach is informed by up to date research, the National Curriculum and research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). We understand and value the interconnected development of spoken language, transcription, sentence construction, vocabulary and composition, while understanding the importance of language comprehension, phonics, fluency, reading for pleasure and reading across the curriculum. 

This is brought together through The Woodthorpe Way.

Reading 

Our aim is to develop children who read fluently, understand increasingly complex language and texts and, importantly, choose to read because they enjoy it.

Our established Reading the Woodthorpe Way approach combines:

• systematic synthetic phonics
• fluency
• extended reading
• close reading
• vocabulary development
• comprehension
• high-quality discussion
• reading across the curriculum
• carefully selected high-quality texts
• reading for pleasure.

The Woodthorpe reading framework sets out a progressive approach incorporating fluency practice, extended reading and close reading, with increasing independence as pupils move through school. 

Phonics and Early Reading

At Woodthorpe, we believe that every child should learn to read confidently and fluently. We teach early reading through Read Write Inc. Phonics, a systematic synthetic phonics programme, which provides a structured approach to developing children’s knowledge of sounds, blending, reading, spelling and writing. Children are regularly assessed so that teaching can be closely matched to their stage of reading development, with additional one-to-one support available for children who need extra practice to keep up. Read Write Inc. also places talk at the heart of lessons and uses decodable books so children can practise reading using the sounds they have been taught.  At Woodthorpe, phonics forms part of our wider reading journey, enabling children to move from learning to decode towards becoming fluent, confident readers who understand and enjoy what they read. 

Follow this link for more info on Phonics 

Developing Fluent Readers

As children become increasingly secure readers, teaching develops their accuracy, automaticity, prosody, vocabulary, comprehension and reading stamina.

Children experience three complementary forms of reading:

Fluency

Children hear expert modelling before repeatedly practising reading themselves. Re-reading develops accuracy, expression and confidence.

Extended Reading

Children engage with whole books and increasingly sustained passages of text. Discussion is used to develop vocabulary, background knowledge and understanding.

Close Reading

Children explore shorter sections of text in greater depth, examining meaning, vocabulary, themes, language choices, authorial intention and their effect on the reader.

These components are explicitly set out within the school's reading approach.

The DfE Reading Framework similarly identifies fluency, language comprehension, reading for pleasure and access to reading across the curriculum as important components of developing skilled readers. 

Reading for Pleasure

We want children to see themselves as readers.

Children encounter complete books representing a range of authors, cultures, experiences and perspectives. Our extended-reading curriculum identifies texts across Years 2 to 6, alongside opportunities for children to encounter books through shared reading and reading for pleasure.

We value:

• adults reading aloud
• discussion about books
• recommendations between children
• access to attractive and engaging books
• author and genre exploration
• opportunities to make personal choices
• literature that acts as both a mirror and a window, allowing children to recognise aspects of their own lives and encounter the experiences of others.

Writing

Our aim is for children to become confident, purposeful and increasingly independent writers.

Writing develops from the strong foundations of spoken language, phonics, vocabulary and reading.

Writing is a complex process involving transcription, composition and executive function. At Woodthorpe we emphasise strong early foundations in handwriting and spelling so that increasingly automatic transcription allows children to devote greater attention to composition. 

Our writing curriculum is progressive from EYFS to Year 6.

The DDAT writing curriculum used by school has been designed progressively against National Curriculum expectations. Inclusive writing checklists are aligned with assessment expectations and are intended to support pupils' understanding of expectations, self-assessment and independence.

Importantly, writing is not confined to the English lesson. Children are expected to apply disciplinary vocabulary and their developing writing knowledge across the curriculum.

At Woodthorpe, children therefore develop writing through interconnected elements including:

Talk and oral composition

Children rehearse ideas and sentences verbally before committing them to paper.

Vocabulary

Children encounter and deliberately use increasingly precise and ambitious vocabulary drawn from reading and the wider curriculum.

Transcription

We explicitly develop handwriting and spelling, recognising that pupils need increasing automaticity in these aspects of writing.

Sentence construction

Children are explicitly taught how language and grammar work within meaningful writing.

Composition

They learn how to generate, organise and develop ideas for different purposes and audiences.

Reviewing and improving

Children increasingly learn to reread, evaluate and refine their writing.

Our writing curriculum is progressive from EYFS to Year 6.

The DDAT writing curriculum used by school has been designed progressively against National Curriculum expectations. Child-friendly writing checklists are aligned with assessment expectations and are intended to support pupils' understanding of expectations, self-assessment and independence. 

At Woodthorpe, writing targets and feedback are used to help children understand their next steps.

Importantly, writing is not confined to the English lesson. Children are expected to apply disciplinary vocabulary and their developing writing knowledge across the curriculum.

Find out more about writing at Woodthorpe by following this link