At Sproatley Endowed CE Academy, our ambition is to nurture and develop confident and thoughtful learners who approach reading and writing with enthusiasm. We aspire to weave literacy through all areas of the curriculum, ensuring that children are aware of the relevance of these skills in life. This includes oral and communication skills, the foundation of which are laid in EYFS. We aim to prepare our children for their future by giving them the fluency of speaking, reading and writing skills necessary to succeed.

The teaching of writing at Sproatley Endowed CE Academy is designed to inspire all children to become creative and confident writers who are able to accurately communicate ideas for a range of audiences and purposes. Writing is approached through a carefully planned sequence in which the children explore the chosen genre in depth, identifying features and practising skills, before writing their own texts. Children begin by reading example texts, discussing the audience and purpose and relevant features. Children are explicitly taught sentence skills and punctuation linked to the purpose for writing with opportunities to practise and apply new skills to secure these. Children are taught how to plan effectively and how to structure their writing. Children are taught how to edit and proof-read their writing, thinking about the accuracy of their writing and the impact on their readers.

Children are taught grammar and punctuation linked to their writing purposes and text types. Children learn vocabulary and grammatical terms identified in the National Curriculum and practise applying sentence skills in English lessons. Spelling is taught linked to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised in Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 spelling rules and word lists are taught, with children using Spelling Shed to practise and learn these spellings. Children are taught to proof-read to check their writing for incorrect spellings, using ‘If in doubt, check it out’ as a rule to help them check spellings they are unsure of.

National Currriculum Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Reading is at the heart of learning at Sproatley Endowed CE Academy; teaching and the environment is carefully planned to promote a love of reading and an understanding of its relevance in the wider world. Staff work to provide a wide range of learning opportunities to ensure that children develop both their word recognition and decoding skills in order to leave our school as fluent readers, as well as an appropriate level of reading comprehension. A strong emphasis is placed on Phonics in Nursery, Reception and Key Stage One, which develops firm foundations in order to become more fluent readers. The use of whole class and small group reading establishes and develops comprehension skills, to enable children to confidently understand a range of texts and be able to apply this to the wider curriculum. Vocabulary is explored as a key element of texts and children broaden their application of new vocabulary within their writing. Through dialogic talk, children are able to discuss, question and analyse ideas and texts which allows them to grow into critical readers. By promoting an enjoyment and respect for reading, we are providing our children with the skills required to continue their future development.

Early reading is taught through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised – see more information below. Children are taught phonics daily and develop fluency, prosody and comprehension through repeated reads and regular reading groups. Children also enjoys listening to and discussing whole class reading books, helping them develop a love for reading from an early age.

In Key Stage 2, children read widely, encountering a rich range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and other texts. Children continue to build their fluency through reading aloud as choral reading, echo reading and reading with partners and adults. Though whole class reading, children are explicitly taught how to construct meaning from the text, drawing on background knowledge, making inferences, exploring new vocabulary and discussing the texts to develop and explore ideas further.