Literacy
The new 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England is now firmly in place and all classes from Year 1 to Year 6 are being taught to the new expectations.
During the course of the previous academic year (2014-2015) the obligation to teach programmes of study from the previous National Curriculum have been disapplied and new programmes of study and attainment targets have been put in place.
Reading
Our aim is to enable children to:
- develop positive attitudes towards reading so that it is a pleasurable and meaningful activity;
- use reading skills as an integral part of learning throughout the curriculum;
- read and respond to a variety of texts whilst gaining increased level of fluency, accuracy, independence and understanding
- develop different strategies for approaching reading and be able to orchestrate the full range of strategies.
For lots more information on how we teach reading at St Peter's please click on the picture below:
Writing
We aim to develop confident, fluent and enthusiastic writers. Writing is delivered through cross-curricular and creative topics alongside the teaching of spelling, grammar and punctuation. A variety of texts are used to support the teaching and learning and enthuse the children into becoming writers themselves.
For lots more information on how we teach writing at St Peter's please click on the picture below:
Spellings Years 2 - 6
At St Peter’s we have adopted an innovative and child-led approach to spelling: ‘Spelling Boxes’ are used to personalise the learning of spelling. They contain words that the child needs to learn. Working with a spelling buddy, a ‘Spuddy’, words are tested daily and progress from being a new word to becoming a learnt word. All learnt words are then tested by an adult and ticked off of the child’s word list.
Formal weekly spelling tests are no longer part of the teaching and assessment of spelling.
Attached is further information based on ‘cued spelling’ by Keith Topping (2001) and ‘word boxes’ by Valtin and Naegele (2001).
In addition to the use of cued spelling, we also use the No Nonsense Spelling programme by Raintree. Spelling lessons will be delivered to the children in order to learn, practise and perfect accurate spelling.
For further information about this programme visit:
Handwriting
It is paramount that children are rigorously taught correct letter formation from the very beginning of their time in school. As soon as the children are ready, they should be taught to sit properly in order to have the correct posture for writing, hold a pencil in the correct tripod grip and develop a legible and joined handwriting style.
At St Peter's we follow the cursive writing scheme, moving from pre-cursive to cursive. In Early Years and lower KS1, a mixture of small group and individual teaching is planned for and delivered. These lessons encompass development of fine motor skills and correct letter formation.
In upper KS1 children are encouraged to use a joined cursive style taught through whole class and small group lessons.
At the start of KS2, children work towards achieving a pen licence and have to demonstrate that their handwriting is legible, joined and appropriately sized in line with the new curriculum. By the end of KS2, all children should be displaying an efficient, quick, neat and legible cursive handwriting style that is effective in recording their ideas.
For an example of the letter shapes used in cursive writing, click the link below: