We teach four separate areas of English at Cirencester Primary School, which all combine together to develop children who have a good level of Literacy skills to move forward to secondary school with.

• Reading – Children begin to learn to read using a synthetic phonics programme called Read Write Inc. Children practise becoming more fluent readers through individual and guided reading sessions using high quality texts. As children move through the school the focus moves more onto the comprehension skills of reading, with children developing their understanding of characters, plot and authors’ writing styles. We have a fantastic school library which further enhances the love of reading for our pupils.
• Writing – We have recently introduced a 'precision teaching' approach to developing sentence structure which uses a step by step approach to writing, based on individual pupil needs.  Children will be exposed to a variety of writing genres such as poetry and non-fiction as well as different types of stories. Texts chosen will often be linked to children’s current topics in class.
• SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) – SPAG teaches children to have a technical understanding of how the English language works. As well as being able to spell words correctly, use a wide range of vocabulary and punctuate well, children are taught the meaning of grammatical terms such as noun, verb, adjective, prefix, pronoun and adverb. They are also taught what phrases and clauses are and how to use them, to understand what conjunctions are and how they work and to know how to turn a question into a command.
• Handwriting – Pupils are first taught how to form letters correctly using a semi cursive style in Nursery and Reception. Throughout Key Stage 1 pupils perfect their letter formation, including ascending and descending letters. Pupils are then taught how to join their writing with the expectation that the majority of pupils are able to join their writing before they enter Key Stage 2.

We set out very high expectations for levels of presentation in pupils’ work, obviously dependent on their ability and age. All staff expect to see pupils taking great care and pride in their work and encourage pupils to apply their neatest handwriting when completing any written task in school or at home.

Phonics

At Cirencester Primary School we begin to teach children to read using the phonics programme ‘Read Write Inc’.

This programme aims to build children's speaking and listening skills as well as to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills to children starting in Nursery/Reception, with the aim of them becoming fluent readers by the age of seven. For more information please see RWI pages.

Pupils continue to regularly practise their spelling throughout Key Stage 2, through revising spelling patterns and rules. They also learn how to spell high frequency words, which cannot be phonetically sounded out. 

Summary Statement for Writing

Overview statement:

Writing continues to focus really strongly in our school curriculum. Our writing curriculum is deliberately ambitious, and is designed to give all pupils the knowledge they need to become confident and accomplished writers. Our chosen method for teaching writing enables all pupils, to access our full curriculum offer.

We look at research and evidence-based approaches when designing our writing curriculum. We have particularly focused on information and recommendations made by the EEF, who recommend that writing is taught as a process, leading to a desired outcome, but the process is learning in itself.

By the time children leave our school, most children have made good progress in writing from their different starting points.

A three-weekly writing- process cycle, which is consistently followed across the school. (Immersion and hook into creative writing, precision teaching, including modelling, followed by independent writing).

We ensure there are:

1. Opportunities for children to write expressively before undertaking precision teaching where writing accuracy and SPaG is the main focus
2. Progressive teaching of spelling, punctuation and grammar skills incorporated into purposeful writing tasks
3. Daily marking of writing to pick up errors and misconceptions
4. Children edit their work from daily adult feedback at the start of the next lesson
5. Examples of WAGOLL is used as a teaching aide across all genre of writing in all age groups
6. Precision teaching methods with flexible groupings for specific objectives
7. Children have the opportunity to write at length in subjects other than English, to apply subject knowledge to different subjects.

This approach has resulted in:

• A love of creative writing from the use of Turbo Writes
• Children learning how to edit their own work to make it more accurate
• Children knowing what their next target is
• Children showing how they have achieved their learning objective
• All children exposed to high quality writing modelling and examples
• Children are taught how to use key vocabulary (often taken from the class text) to develop their writing further
• More children, including SEND and PP, becoming accomplished writers

How our Writing curriculum has been adapted to ensure all children are able to write well

-Additional support for key individuals- namely

• Differentiated SPaG groups for precision writing where adults model what is required
• Children correct spelling errors copying out the correct word 3 times, and using Spelling logs to monitor accurate use of age related CAW in writing.
• Targeted SPaG work based on correct use of SPaG not age
• Colourful Semantics intervention used to support spelling and reading which impacts positively on writing
• SNIP spelling intervention to also help with reading CAW
• Inclusion in whole class reading lessons (VIPERS)- exposure to rich language and vocabulary, and discussions- the pre-requisite for good writing
• Inclusion in Reading Theatre sessions (language development- rehearsal for writing )
• Inclusion in class text being read to the class (language development and helps with understanding of writing tasks, as the two areas of the curriculum are linked

Catch Up in Writing

Progress and achievement in writing was impacted during school restrictions because learning from home restricted some children from access to targeted support and key subject knowledge required from parents.

That said, the school provided:

• All children had access to writing  material during partial school closures
• We continued with our set school curriculum throughout both lockdowns
• Teachers recorded themselves modelling writing to the class for children to follow at home
• Writing tasks were set weekly, children had access to the WAGOLL
• Targeted groups continued online via Google Meet
• Children uploaded their writing to Seesaw, and teachers could mark it and provide feedback for improvements.

Writing at Home

KS1 children have weekly handwriting practice to do at home which is directly matched to the phonic sounds they have been taught.

Good oracy skills are the pre-requisite for writing; children are encouraged to talk about the books they are reading at home, which influences vocabulary used which is subsequently used in their independent writing.

Directly linking our Reading and Writing Curriculum

1. As English leaders, we believe in the importance of oracy and language work as pre-requisites for good learning in both reading and writing. Across the whole school, starting in EYFS, all reading and writing lessons involve discussions and explicit vocabulary work which can then be seen in independent writing
2. Our reading and writing curriculum are aligned to ensure children can link key knowledge together in order to develop deeper understanding of how our reading examples and writing WAGOLLs provide examples to all children of  age appropriate quality reading material which exemplifies for them how to structure their writing, and the correct use of age related spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Support from English Leaders

• Teachers have good knowledge of the writing curriculum they teach.

As English Leaders we provide support in the following ways:

• Monitoring of the effectiveness of the writing process through termly drop ins to writing lessons- individual feedback is provided in addition to CPD for staff as a whole
• SPaG posters provided to all teachers
• SPaG glossary provided to all adults who work in class
• Demonstration lessons provided
• Examples of three weekly writing cycle provided to teachers
• Three weekly planning example provided to teachers
• Marking codes provided to teachers
• Whole school moderation of writing standards undertaken resulting in more consistent assessment of standards in writing across the school.

Impact of our Writing Curriculum

• Children’s strong phonic knowledge supports spelling
• Children are keen to write as it feels purposeful
• Letter formation, handwriting and spelling are linked in KS1
• Teachers present subject matter clearly, promoting appropriate discussion
• Teachers check understanding and misconceptions in writing lessons, and provide group and class feedback and will then adapt their future teaching as necessary. For example spending more or less time explaining key vocabulary for the context of the writing
• Children write more widely and more often, resulting in improved transcription and composition appropriate to their age.
• More children have the confidence to write independently
• Children can self-edit as they read back their work in as they work through a piece.

Assessment in Writing

Teachers assess reading by (formative assessment)

• Daily marking provides daily feedback
• Talking to children about their writing
• Getting children to read back to an adult what they have written
• Daily checking by children against target success criteria
• Children write out on their learning label their next target in writing

This assessment information enables teachers to adapt their teaching to the needs of the class, and, for some individuals who have gaps in key skills; teachers can intervene with targeted support.

To help all children remember key knowledge related to the writing genre, we provide learning labels that contain this key information.

At the end of each third week, all children undertake a summative assessment in writing. Children use the previous two-week’s work to independently write a specific genre of writing and this writing is completely independent work. Teachers assess this piece of writing using the age related criteria for writing as set out in the National Curriculum.

Summary Statement for Reading

Reading continues to focus really strongly in our school curriculum. Our reading curriculum is deliberately ambitious, as it is designed to give all pupils the knowledge they need to become confident and accomplished readers. Reading is prioritised to allow all pupils, to access our full curriculum offer.

We look at research and evidence-based approaches when designing our reading curriculum. We have particularly focused on information and recommendations made by the EEF.

By the time children leave our school, most are accomplished readers for learning, as well as readers for pleasure. In addition to this we have developed:

1. A culture of story time, storytelling and being read to daily in our EYFS
2. High standards achieved in phonic knowledge and word reading  embedded across Key Stage 1

We noticed that children in KS1 had excellent phonic knowledge and could decode extremely well, some were deficit in continual reading fluency, which enabled them to understand what they were reading as they progressed through more demanding texts.

To address this and to ensure more children achieve more highly in reading comprehension by the end of KS2, we have the following priorities in place.

1. The full range of reading skills are - coherently planned, sequenced, and then explicitly taught in reading lessons in every year group. The main resource we use for this purpose is taken from the Literacy shed and is known by the acronym VIPERS.
2. High quality class texts are used to directly compliment the Big Question inquiry, and these texts have been carefully selected to be- a)  developmental in level of reading challenge and use of content vocabulary, b) progressive in complexity of reading content by plot, character, moral issue, cultural reference, ethical dilemma and background information/ cultural capital required to understand the text and c) the selected linked texts provide children with additional information on a specific subject that occurs in the class text, so they fully understand these new concepts that occur in the class text
3. Teachers model reading and language. Children are read to every day by the class teacher. All children benefit from hearing a story, text or poem, which is ever so slightly above their normal range of reading material. This provides exposure to richer vocabulary.
4. All children take part in Readers’ Theatre sessions each week which:

• Develop a better understanding of key vocabulary in the given text before the reading lesson
• Allow all children to practice oracy skills by reading out loud with purpose to an audience
• Enable teachers to model how the text should be read aloud
• Enable all children to rehearse and practice reading key parts of the text
• Allow key features in the text to be examined for spelling, grammar and punctuation development
• Develop pupils’ knowledge of authorial intent

All of this contributes to developing reading fluency, which takes our children from being strong decoders to fluent readers for learning.

In addition, to ensure all children have the opportunity to develop a love of reading we:

• Provide regular information about new choices of reading material (recommended books in classrooms and library)
• Encourage access to adult support for reading in our school library at lunchtime (lunchtime)
• Pitch independent reading material to the decoding and the comprehension ability of the child
• Encourage regular book talk from the children rather than static comments recorded in the reading record book by parents
• Set reading challenges across the school to promote and celebrate all reading
• Provide spaces for children to read by themselves during their lunchbreaks

How our Reading curriculum has been adapted to ensure all children are able to read well

-Additional support for key individuals- namely

• Heard read by an adult most day  Three times a week in KS2
• Targeted phonic work based on knowledge of sounds not age (fast track)
• Pre-reading sessions of class text before the class lesson
• SNIP spelling intervention to also help with reading  CEW
• Inclusion in class reading lessons (VIPERS)
• Inclusion in Readers’ Theatre sessions
• Inclusion in class text being read to the class

School leaders prioritised reading and reading material for our Recovery Premium spend, and for some of our Catch Up Premium spend. (Accelerated Reader, Cracking Comprehensions, EBooks subscription, Reading Cloud subscription, more copies of popular recommended books, reading age group books, Barrington Stoke reading books and Pie Corbett’s Poetry Spine and RWI Book Bag Books)

We have introduced to the children new books for them to read which are pitched at the age group impacted the most by partial school closures - namely Years 1 and 2, and Year 4 and Y5.

Since children have been reading these books, the interest in reading has reignited, and children are keen and eager to read in school.

Reading at Home

1. EYFS and KS1 this programme of reading is carefully organised and monitored by class teachers ensuring that all children take home their appropriate RWI Book Bag Books, and a Reading for Pleasure book over the weekend.
2. Parents of children in our reception classes come into school on a weekly basis and join in with Story time, which is modelled by the class teacher.  This is well attended by parents.
3. KS2- we found that the daily signing and commenting in the reading record book, did not give us an accurate indication of who had read at home, as some parents were signing the Reading Record book without engaging in quality reading with their child, and some children were not reading at all at home. We now timetable into the week, book talk (do daily book talk in class,) where all children talk about the specific text they are reading (read the night before) to their partner reader. This is far more motivational for all children to take part in, as they know they have to be able to talk about their book read in class. Children not reading at home have responded much more positively to being encouraged to read so they can take part in daily book talk, than if their parents had not signed the Reading Record book.

Support from English Leaders

• Teachers have good knowledge of the reading curriculum they teach.

As English Leaders we provide support in the following ways:

• Weekly monitoring and support for RWI phonics teaching
• Class texts scrutinised by reading Leaders to ensure depth of rich language matched to the age of the children
• Interests of the children taken into account when selecting class texts
• Additional and supplementary linked texts, including poetry, suggested to support reading content contained within class text
• Activities to help teach VIPERS skills provide by Reading leaders
• TAs provide with CPD to enable them to support class reading sessions, Reading Theatre activities and reading interventions

Impact of our Reading Curriculum

• Children develop strong phonic knowledge
• Reading books connect closely to the phonics knowledge pupils are taught when learning to read
• Children are familiar with a wide range of traditional and non-traditional stories
• Children can make a plausible prediction about a text based on the information already gained
• Children know how to retrieve information from a text
• Children are using and understanding a wider repertoire of vocabulary in their everyday school talk
• Children can talk about books they have read
• Children are keen to read new reading material
• All children can apply what they know, and can do with increasing fluency and independence in reading as they progress through the school
• Children will share books and book talk during their lunchtimes
• Children tell us they love reading
• More children volunteer to read allow
• Children are becoming more fluent and expressive when they read allowed
• Children love the class texts read to them by the class teacher
• Children are developing a love of reading and are becoming readers for learning
• Teachers present subject matter clearly, promoting appropriate discussion
• Teachers check understanding and misconceptions in reading lessons, and provide group and class feedback and will then adapt their future teaching as necessary. For example spending more or less time explaining key vocabulary
• Children read more widely and more often, resulting in increased fluency and comprehension appropriate to their age.
• Children have vocalised that Readers’ Theatre has helped to improve confidence in reading aloud as well as increasing their enjoyment of reading.

Assessment in Reading

Teachers assess reading by (formative assessment)

• Listening to children read
• Marking their responses to reading comprehension questions
• Talking to children about their reading
• Asking questions related to the read text

This assessment information enables teachers to adapt their teaching to the needs of the class, and, for some individuals who have gaps in key reading skills; teachers can intervene with targeted support.

To help all children remember key knowledge related to the reading text, we provide knowledge organisers, which identify key vocabulary and concepts contained within the book, to be learned and understood.

At the end of each long term, all children undertake a summative assessment in Reading, using the NFER reading assessments. Teachers use the Question Level Analysis functionality to decipher which reading skills require additional development. (Summative assessment)