English
Reading at Stockwell Primary School
Stockwell Primary School greatly understands the need for all pupils to develop their skills as effective communicators in all subjects. Moreover, we recognise the importance of communication in shaping every aspect of a pupil’s current and future lives. Providing a high-quality education in English is a vital way of ensuring our pupils are able to articulate themselves both in school and later in public life. Creating a life-long love for the subject of English helps to support pupils’ work across the curriculum, as well as enlighten their interactions with the world around them. It also acts as a gateway to increase their own cultural capital and enables pupils to access all possibilities life has to offer. Our teaching of English also places significance on the collective experience of other people embodied through the language they employ, and pupils learn about empathy, understanding, self-expression, and through this combination, about themselves and who they are.
The teaching and learning of English at Stockwell Primary School comprises the development of comprehensive reading, writing, speaking and listening skills and, importantly, the exploration and application of high-level vocabulary.
“If they can read it, and understand it, they can say it. If they can say it with confidence, it provides them a key to success for their future beyond school.” Alex Quigley
It remains a vital subject to embed our pupils’ understanding of literature and the lived experience of others across the globe, past and present and across a range of genres. It rests at the very core of our pupil’s ability to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and enables them to think critically and enthusiastically about the world around them. The study of English also embeds our pupils’ understanding and appreciation of the intricacies of language: its breath, patterns, structure and origins. Empowered with this knowledge, pupils at Stockwell Primary School are able to make informed choices about how they communicate themselves in different contexts.
The teaching of English at Stockwell Primary School involves an ever-evolving, reflective and vibrant curriculum which challenges and engages our pupils. We acknowledge the paramount importance of adapting and extending our bespoke curriculum to match all pupils’ needs. Where possible, English will be linked to class topics to ensure knowledge and understanding of the world is applied across a range of contexts and embedded in the long-term memory through interleaving opportunities for application.
Reading
The importance of reading, and reading for pleasure, cannot be overstated. Our pupil’s capacity to learn, and enjoy learning, is inexorably connected to their skills in reading. At Stockwell, we actively encourage children to read broadly for pleasure, while immersing them in word-rich classrooms which focus on vocabulary development. Pupils are encouraged throughout their Stockwell career to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers, as they are introduced to an increasingly wide variety of well-chosen literary materials. Pupils develop a capacity to explain their understanding of books and other reading and to utilise what they have read to inspire their own thinking and writing.
Early Reading Skills
The teaching of systematic synthetic phonics daily is an integral part of early reading at our school. From 9.10am to 9.30am children in EYFS and KS1 have Phonics lessons. Phonics is taught using the letters and sounds resources, and delivered by stage not age. The phonics scheme used at Stockwell is called Essential Letters and Sounds. Children should be encouraged to regularly review taught sounds and apply them in their reading (and writing). They support children in practising their skills, children are provided with a decodable book and a book of choice (if this is not the same) to take home.
Reading Colour Bands
Click here to find out more about phonics.
