Curriculum Information Page – English
Reading
At Cavendish, we aim to nurture and promote a love of reading which will stay with children for life.
Reading is embedded into our curriculum and is taught through English, following our long-term plan which is based around sequences of learning delivered through a range of high-quality, engaging texts.
Each class visits our school library on a weekly basis where they have access to a wide range of interesting texts and genres. All children take home a reading for pleasure book from the library on a weekly basis to enjoy.
Across school, children are listened to read regularly and each classroom has their own reading corner to promote a love and appreciation of reading.
As part of our Early Reading at Cavendish, children in Reception and Year One have daily phonic sessions which are delivered following the Read Write Inc Phonics programme. Reception and Year One pupils follow the Read Write Inc. storybooks (ditties) which they take home to practice. Children who have completed RWI Phonics (Years 2-6) choose a book from our home school reading spine to read. This spine offers children a wide range of carefully selected, age-appropriate texts to enjoy reading at home. Children accessing RWI Phonics/Fresh Start Phonics interventions in Year 2 and above continue to take home a decodable RWI text, in line with their phonics teaching sequence.
In KS2, each class has a dedicated time for reading at the beginning of the school day, three times a week. This time focuses on developing children’s fluency skills but also has a strong emphasis on the progression of children’s reading comprehension skills. At Cavendish, to support with developing children’s comprehension skills we have our very own family of reading superhero characters.
Phonics
At Cavendish, children’s phonics journey begins in Nursery with children being taught and exposed to the sounds from Phase 1 in ‘Letters and Sounds’. During this phase, lots of emphasis is placed on developing children’s listening and oral phonics skills. Children begin to listen to and make different sounds around them, such as animal sounds, toy sounds and sounds in spoken language. They also learn how to segment and blend through lots of interactive games and fun activities. Children are immersed in a wide range of nursery rhymes, songs and books to help them extend their growing vocabulary.
When children enter Reception, they then progress onto Read Write Inc. Phonics which is taught daily throughout Reception and Key Stage One. Children initially focus on learning one sound a day and practice writing the sound, saying the sound and then putting the sound into a word. Once they are confident with the sounds, children begin reading simple sentences and stories (ditties). During Year One, children continue to learn the sounds and are assessed on the range of sounds that they can read. In Year Two, children progress to accessing daily spelling session following the Read Write Inc. spelling scheme.
Whilst in Early Years, children are initially given picture books to take home and enjoy exploring to promote their oracy skills and understanding of texts. Once more confident with letter sounds and reading, children then take a story book home to read which matches the stage they are currently accessing on Read Write Inc. Phonics scheme. This continues in Year One.
Phonics is embedded into all our areas in provision in Early Years and children have access to a wide range of engaging, stimulating resources to support their phonic development and skills.
Spelling
At Cavendish, children in Years 2-6 have daily spelling sessions which are taught through the Read Write Inc. spelling scheme. It is a fast-paced, interactive spelling scheme which reflects the objectives and requirements from the National Curriculum (2014) for each year group.
As part of their phonics and spelling sessions, children also learn to read and spell the common exception words for each phase.
Writing
Writing is embedded into the curriculum at Cavendish and children are provided with a wealth of stimulating, creative writing opportunities. Children’s writing journey begins in Early Years where children are provided with a wide range of interesting and purposeful mark-making opportunities within both the indoor and outdoor provision. As children progress through school, they write for a range of real audiences and purposes and cross-curricular links are utilised wherever possible to embed children’s writing skills.
At Cavendish, children are taught handwriting following the ‘PenPals’ handwriting scheme. The whole-class sessions progress through five developmental stages: physical preparation for handwriting; securing correct letter formation; beginning to join; securing joins and practicing speed and fluency leading to children developing their own personal style.
