{DIARY_CALENDA
English
Children follow the Primary Framework for Literacy and all classes in Key Stage 1 and 2 have allocated time every day and additional time for extended writing, handwriting and personal reading.
Teaching of phonics
Phonics are taught in Reception class in the Autumn term once the children are settled and ready for learning. Phonics is a way of teaching beginning readers to match letters and sounds. By associating letters with sounds, phonics support children to hear and say the words they're seeing on the page.
At Baring, we use 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised' to support the children with their phonics. This continues as necessary across the school.
Reading
Reading is viewed as a vital aspect of Literacy and this is reflected in our school and home learning expectations. Our books are graded by difficulty by reading levels known as 'Book Bands', more information about your child's band can be obtained from your child's teacher. We use a programme called Daily Supported Reader in KS1 and Destination Reader in KS2.
Reading Volunteers
We are fortunate to have a number of volunteers who support our children with reading in school. Anyone can be a reading volunteer - currently we have parents, ex members of staff, members of the local community and volunteers from a reading charity (Beanstalk) working with us. Everyone who helps with reading at Baring makes a real difference to the children they read with and we are very grateful for the time they give us. Thank you to them all! If you would like to become a reading volunteer at Baring please see Mr. Greaves (Deputy Headteacher) or Judi Standing in the school office. You might have a spare half hour when you drop off your child at school or before picking them up - why not come and be a part of Baring's reading adventure?Writing
The school teaches children to write in a fully cursive style. A variety of strategies are used to teach spelling, including phonics using ‘Letters and Sounds’ and ‘Jolly Phonics’. We develop children’s general literacy through oral story telling using Pie Corbett materials and this has huge impact on children’s written work.
Speaking and listening
Our aim is for children to develop confidence and competence as language users in speaking and listening, reading and writing. We believe that without facility in all aspects of the English language, children cannot make progress in other areas of the curriculum and therefore an emphasis is given to acquiring these necessary skills. We also believe that learning should generate a sense of pleasure and excitement. To this end, Book Weeks, visiting Theatre Groups, Storytellers, Poets and library visits offer additional opportunities
to explore literature. The school has an expectation that parents will share books and reading with their child every day. We provide guidance, reading journals and home reading packs to enable parents to fully support reading at home.
The National Curriculum for English
The National Curriculum strands by year group can be seen in this document here and you can view the National Curriculum Programme of Study for English here.
Please click on each year group link for the progression of skills in English. Year One Writing Year Two Writing Year Three Writing Year Four Writing Year Five Writing Year Six Writing