Becoming KSJ readers, writers, listeners and speakers

Writing

We believe our children have the potential to change the world; through writing they can power their imaginations, inspire others and communicate effectively.

All children should have an opportunity to write independently each day.  The format of  writing sessions will follow the 'workshop style approach' and all teachers will use the whole school writing genre guidance policy to support the planning and delivery of writing sessions.  Quality writing sessions are developed through the enjoyment and enthusiasm for a quality text.

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.   

You will find the end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the attached documents. For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a termly basis, please contact your class teacher.

Teachers are encouraged to write their own examples of text and demonstrate the thought process for writing.

Context labels are produced for each writing session and accompany the pupil's work.  These are differentiated to meet pupil need.  All contexts include the date and the lesson objectives, with a brief outline of input given from the teacher to support the learning.  Clear and specific success criteria is included on the context label.  These may be criteria linked to the genre, the class target, or an individual pupil target. Colour coding may be used to indicate opportunities for self or peer assessment against the success criteria included.

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The marking code is applied throughout the teacher's floor walking during the independent writing time.  Pupils will respond to these immediately.  Time is also given following the end of session marking for pupils to edit their writing.

Assessments for writing are carried out each half term and moderated by all staff.

Reading    

The development of reading at Kingsley St John's is an ongoing process and we believe in a close working relationship between teacher and parent/carer.  Home/school reading diaries are maintained and next steps are clearly identified by the teachers  as well as areas of strength.  Individual reading is heard regularly each week and the children have independence in selecting their next text.  Reading skills are also developed through the workshop style writing approach, through reading modelled texts and text marking.

Early reading books are carefully selected and benchmarked through a personlised approach in our shcool and are heavily linked to phonic phases to support the using and embedding of knowledge and skills.

As the children become more confident and fluent with their reading, our book bands allow children to begin to use a wider range of reading features.

Guided reading sessions may begin with a short reading type activity and there may be modelled reading, with modelled higher level skills being shown.  Guided reading sessions are well planned and often will use texts at a slightly higher level than a child's independent reading level.  As a learner's reading develops, there should be a focus on the range assessment focus areas when planning for and assessing reading outcomes.  Benchmarking is used to track pupil's reading skills and historical optional sats are used to assess reading skills indpendently are also used.

Reading ages are tracked throughout the academic year so that any dips/stuttered progress is identified quickly and short booster can be put in place to ensure children progress is evident

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Speaking and Listening

Developing speaking and listening skills are very highly considered and appreciated in our curriculum.  This is done through a wide range of ongoing activities and application across the school and should be planned regularly into lessons across the curriculum.  

Drama should not be underestimated in its ability to strengthen character, emotional well-being, self-esteem, social interaction and confidence building.  It is a key skill and at Kingsley St John's, as a small school, these opportunities must be fostered and nurtured regularly.  This is a key strength of the school, and ensure key skills are learned to support the next stage of education and later life skills.

The ability of pupils to communicate through effective speaking and listening is the basis of foundation skills on which to build, develop and succeed.

Love; Learn; Aspire; Achieve

Phonics and Spelling

Phonics is taught daily,  

See phonics page for more information and detail 

Spelling is an important aspect of supporting writing at Kingsley St John's.  There is a clear and broad approach to the teaching of spelling and the application of spelling within writing.

Handwriting

Handwriting is taught alongside spelling patterns to support learning of letter patterns, sounds and strokes.  There are high expectations for handwriting in all subject areas and presentation skills are practised regularly also.  The school teaches cursive script writing.

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