Starting with a focus of developing spoken English, we progress onto phonics, reading then writing.

Phonics is our preferred way to introduce reading and spelling. For children from non-English speaking backgrounds, we develop personalised programmes. There is additional provision and opportunity to develop speaking and listening skills in English before applying them to learning. 

With confidence in English, children can access our full and broad curriculum.

English is divided into four areas:

1. Speaking & listening
2. Phonics into reading
3. Reading, including comprehension
4. Writing, including punctuation, grammar, spelling (phonics into writing) and handwriting

Click here to find our Key Text Rationales which support and inspire our English Curriculum

Please follow the links below to get a snapshot of our exciting English Curriculum at Nightingale
 

English Resources

We use Read Write Inc to teach phonics. We use the following resources to support this:

• Oxford Owl reading scheme
• Fresh Start – small group phonics booster lessons for UKS2 chn new to English and dropping behind their peers
• Racing to English. For pupils new to English, particularly within KS2.
• No Nonsense Spelling: Y2 – Y6
• Basic skills curriculum
• Letterjoin: Supporting the teaching of handwriting skills.
• Cornerstones: Supporting the writing development within foundation subjects.
   

Handwriting

Nursery and reception children work with a variety of activities that improve their fine motor control (their ability to control the small muscles in their hands). These activities range from tasks that require the children to use tools such as tweezers to move objects, to more complex tracing of patterns.

From reception, all the way to Year 6 we form letters in the same way. Using a cursive font from the scheme letterjoin, letter join is used regularly in classes and as smaller groups to practise common letter formation and word families. We ensure our handwriting style is consistently used in lesson resources. This cohesive approach reinforces our handwriting policy throughout our curriculum.

Handwriting is taught alongside spellings, with regular daily focus until pupils are fluent.
 

Phonics

Throughout school, we use the Read, Write Inc. teaching method and principles

Read Write Inc.

Throughout school, we use Read Write Inc. as our systematic synthetic phonics scheme. All staff have received full training within this scheme and we offer a smaller size of groups during these sessions for a higher quality delivery.

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a voice.

Read Write Inc. Phonics The programme is for: 

• Pupils in Year R to Year 2 who are learning to read and write  
• Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly  
• Struggling readers in Years 5 and 6 follow Read Write Inc. Fresh Start. 

In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils:  

• Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills  
• Read common exception words on sight  
• Understand what they read  
• Read aloud with fluency and expression  
• Write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar  
• Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words  
• Acquire good handwriting. 

In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge. 

We group pupils homogeneously, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing will lag behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed. 

In Year R we emphasise the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily. Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings – common exception words. We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. 

This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher supports their increasingly fluent decoding. 

Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to pupils; they are soon able to read these texts for themselves. 

Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that pupils quickly learn to write simple words and sentences. We encourage them to compose each sentence aloud until they are confident to write independently. We make sure they write every day. 

Pupils write at the level of their spelling knowledge. The quality of the vocabulary they use in their writing reflects the language they have heard in the books the teacher has read to them; they have also discussed what the words mean. 

Our aim is for pupils to complete the phonics programme as quickly as possible. The sooner they complete it, the sooner they will be able to choose books to read at their own interest and comprehension level. 
 

Assessment and Tracking Progress 

All children on the Read Write Inc. programme are assessed using the assessment sheets from Read Write Inc. half termly and then streamed into groups for the following half term based on their assessment result. This ensures that all children are being taught the phonetic knowledge that they need in order to progress at the expected standard. 

All Reception children and any new starters in our school are assessed as soon as possible (depending on the emotional need of the child) so that they can be placed into the correct group immediately. 

The results of the half termly assessments are put into the tracking grid so that the progress of all children can be easily identified. This supports the reading leader in identifying any children that are not on track to make expected progress and can therefore put in place intervention to support that child. 

Pupils who are making slower progress usually complete the programme by the end of Year 2. We support pupils who have identified special educational needs for however long it takes until they can read. For example, we identify those who are at risk of falling behind their peers immediately – whatever their age. Highly trained staff tutor them for 15 minutes every day, using the Read Write Inc. one-to-one tutoring programme. If a child arrives in Key Stage 2 reading below their chronological age or with English as an additional language they are taught Read Write Inc. Phonics until they too catch up with their peers. 

By the end of Key Stage 1, our pupils are able to read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed for comprehension. This means that we can focus on developing their comprehension, preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2. Their good decoding skills mean that they have a sound strategy for decoding unfamiliar words when they come across them at whatever stage or in any subject, even into secondary school.
 

Fresh Start – Continued Phonics beyond Ks1

The Fresh Start programme is used for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils who have fallen significantly below their peers in Reading or are new to English. It follows a very similar structure to the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme and incorporates many of the systems and procedures that our older children are familiar with due to their previous learning. 

Any Year 5 or Year 6 children who are falling significantly behind their peers in Reading are assessed using the Fresh Start Assessment and then given a Phonetic level. The children are then grouped based on their reading ability. This is the same for new starters to the school. The Fresh Start programme involves daily one-hour lessons focusing on:

• Decoding letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills 
• Reading common exception words on sight  
• Understanding what they read  
• Reading aloud with fluency and expression  
• Writing confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar  
• Spelling quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words  
• Acquiring good handwriting

In a similar way to the Phonics programme, these lessons are taught in as small groups as possible and incorporate a huge amount of partner work and support. The groups read through and study one module a week including a variety of writing activities specifically created to engage older learners and accelerate their learning. 

All children on the Fresh Start programme are assessed half termly and then put into the appropriate group for the following half term. However, if there is accelerated progress from an individual during a half term, then they are re-assessed when needed and moved as appropriate. When the children are at a level in which they can access the same curriculum as their peers, they are moved back into the classroom. 

Class English – Reading

When our children are off the Read Write Inc. Programme while still in Key Stage One, they receive a daily session of Class English. This comprises of three sessions that focus on developing reading speed and fluency as well as the skills required to fully comprehend a text and two sessions of creative writing that aims to inspire and motivate children while giving them opportunity to write for different purposes’

Our spine of reading books comes from the ‘Power of Reading’ to ensure that we provide a diverse range of high quality on which children can hang their learning. We focus on learning these texts really well to ensure a deeper understanding of structures and themes which children can then appreciate and apply to other books they read to further enrich their learning

Reading Class English sessions give our pupils their first experience of DERIC strategies they will use more frequently in Key Stage 2 – they dig deeper into a text relating it to their own lives and experiences, building up skills in structuring answers while reading aloud every day.

During the writing aspects we incorporate strategies from Pie Corbett’s Talk for Writing approach to help children learn and embed their knowledge of story structures before applying these in the own writing – focus is on group work to rehearse and retell stories before using our imagination to produce their own compositions.

Guided Reading

Guided Reading takes place at a whole class level for those children who are at the point in their English development where they can access age-related texts – those children who aren’t at this level receive extra language development through our Racing to English scheme.

During Guided Reading we focus on use of the DERIC Reading domains where children practise their fluency and stamina for reading as well as their ability to comprehend a text

Reading

Each day, children carry out individual reading, guided reading and shared reading of a story. We use our shared stories as the content of a class presentation, which our children present at the end of every half term.
 

Ensuring Progress for All

All children on the Read Write Inc. programme are assessed using the assessment sheets from Read Write Inc. half termly and then streamed into groups for the following half term based on their assessment result. This ensures that all chn are being taught the phonetic knowledge that they need in order to progress at the expected standard. 

All Reception children and any new starters in our school are assessed as soon as possible (depending on the emotional need of the child) so that they can be placed into the correct group immediately. 

The results of the half termly assessments are put into the tracking grid so that the progress of all children can be easily identified. This supports the reading leader in identifying any children that are not on track to make expected progress and can therefore put in place intervention to support that child.

Pupils who are making slower progress usually complete the programme by the end of Year 2. We support pupils who have identified special educational needs for however long it takes until they can read. For example, we identify those who are at risk of falling behind their peers immediately – whatever their age. Highly trained staff tutor them for 15 minutes every day, using the Read Write Inc. One-to-one tutoring programme. If a child arrives in Key Stage 2 reading below their chronological age or with English as an additional language they are taught Read Write Inc. Phonics until they too catch up with their peers.

By the end of Key Stage 1, our pupils are able to read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed for comprehension. This means that we can focus on developing their comprehension, preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2. Their good decoding skills mean that they have a sound strategy for decoding unfamiliar words when they come across them at whatever stage or in any subject, even into secondary school.

Additional support for lower-attaining pupils learning to read 

Pupils in the ‘lowest’ attaining group have the widest variety of needs. This is therefore the least homogeneous group. In order to give these pupils the same carefully targeted teaching as all the other groups, some of these pupils have daily one-to-one tutoring for 10 to 20 minutes, in addition to their group session in the morning. This tutoring helps us to meet their individual needs. Once these pupils have learnt to read they will receive additional support when learning to spell.

Home reading for children on Read Write Inc. programme

All children on the Read Write Inc. programme will take a book home to read after every cycle. For example, if the children are on the 3-day cycle; which would mean they are on red, green, pink, purple or orange books; then they would take a copy of the book they have just finished learning about in school home every 3rd day.  If the children are on the 5-day cycle; yellow, blue and grey books; then they would take a copy of the finished book home with them every 5th day. The children will also take home a similar themed book to the one they have been learning about which is matched at the exact same level. These books are called Read Write Inc Home Readers. 
 

Reading into Writing

Quality literature is at the core of our English curriculum. We understand that a successful English curriculum must be driven by high quality, engaging texts which stimulate children’s enthusiasm. We use texts from ‘Power of Reading’ which ensure we offer a diverse range of literature from classic novels, contemporary fiction, stories from other cultures as well as non-fiction texts and poetry.

These serve as the catalyst for children’s learning as they are then guided through a teacher written bespoke modelled example. They analyse this for language and features before practising the required grammar and punctuation skills needed to produce work of a similar standard. From here they go through a process of applying their skills before receiving individual feedback and then redrafting, editing and publishing their work. The final steps are to evaluate their success as we believe an awareness of what they use in their writing is key before we offer opportunities for children to lead their own learning as they invite their own text related to their original stimulus.

Over the course of a year each class will have had the opportunity to write for many different purposes. For narrative such as suspense, fairy tales and sci-fi and for non-fiction texts examples are spread as wide as autobiographies, instructions and persuasive writing.

Clock here for examples of our Reading into Writing approach and teaching sequences.

20-21 Writing Sequence

Nightingale – English Manual – 20-21

Writing

The children write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to say, before spelling the words using the graphemes and ‘tricky’ words they know. They practise handwriting every day: sitting at a table comfortably, they learn correct letter formation and how to join letters speedily and legibly. Children’s composition (ideas, vocabulary and grammar) is developed by drawing on their own experiences and talking about the stories they read. 

Spelling

At Nightingale, spelling is firstly taught through phonics and during our children’s daily Read Write Inc. sessions children regularly practise their spelling through focus on common word patterns as well as common exception words.

Once children are off the Read Write Inc. programme, their spelling focus is guided through our No Nonsense Spelling scheme. This is rigorously built to guide children through age-related spellings and provides our teachers with the structure needed to ensure all children reach a high standard of spelling.
 

Love of reading opportunities

We love celebrating the dedication that our children show towards reading. We encourage them to engage with a wider variety of texts to enrich their vocabulary and range of skills from which the draw from. Author Experience Days, special visitor and Spelling Bees are just some of the special events we participate in throughout the year, to challenge and encourage our more able.

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Assessment Exemplifications 

For children’s assessment in Years 2 and 6 children are assessed using the statutory guidance within the interim writing framework