English and Phonics

English

At Wharncliffe Side, we use a Mastery approach to embed reading, writing and speaking and listening skills into everything we do. Our English curriculum aims to develop language skills in four different areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening. We aim to provide our pupils with a wide experience of literature throughout the Foundation Stage and into Key Stages 1 and 2. English is an integral part of our whole curriculum. We want all our children to learn to speak, read and write with confidence, skill, fluency and understanding, enabling them to become independent, confident and creative learners.

We teach children the mechanics of writing through transcription and SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) so that the children have the knowledge to be able to write cohesively and fluently. We expose the children to a wide range of high-quality texts which the children then use as a model for their own writing. We aim to develop children’s life-long love of reading.

Each term, there is a focus on both narrative and non-fiction texts. Poetry is also a key part of our English curriculum.

Phonics and Early Reading

We teach phonics and early reading using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. Please follow this link to see the ‘Support for Parents’ area of their website.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

When children have completed the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme they join our Spelling Programme (usually in Year 2).