English

Reading

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.”

At Low Ash, we want all children to read for pleasure. We believe that Reading underpins all areas of the curriculum and provides children with the freedom and ownership of their learning. To embed this, we take a holistic approach, choosing texts from a broad range of genres and cultures. This allows children to develop their own reading preferences.  We want to inspire and guide children to become fluent and confident readers, with a wealth of vocabulary, which can be transferred into writing. It is our intention that children will immerse themselves in books and texts, to clearly understand authorial techniques and the effect that this has on the reader. This will enable children to develop both as readers and writers. We want children to realise that reading is a key that will unlock opportunities for them both at school and in later life.

Writing

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” (Terry Pratchett)

At Low Ash we believe that all pupils should be able to confidently communicate their knowledge and apply their creativity through their writing. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school. We want them to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style to suit a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We believe all pupils should understand the strong link between reading and writing. We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style. We believe that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process.

Oracy

At Low Ash, we want all children to be confident at speaking and listening. We want the children to be able to: discuss, debate, develop and share opinions and take these skills into all areas of the curriculum. In lessons, we want children to be actively involved, articulating their views and knowledge clearly. We want children to feel confident to question and critique in order to further develop their learning. We hope that by developing talking and listening skills, children will become well-rounded adults who can use their oracy skills outside of school.

Book Recommendations

Medium Term Plans