English

Reading 

We believe reading is key for academic success and ensure we have a holistic approach to the teaching of reading: 

• Early readers are taught using the Read Write Inc phonics scheme.
• We are very lucky to have a well stocked library. All children, from Nursery to Year 6, visit our school library each week. These sessions include input from adults about different authors and the children will discuss books. The children return their library books and get a new book each week, the focus of these sessions is for children to choose a book to develop a love of reading. Time in class is dedicated to reading for enjoyment.  
• Children are read to each day by their class teacher. As a school we have a set list of books which we think every children should experience before they leave primary school. You can see the book list here.  
• Children who are not yet 'free readers', will work through our school reading scheme – these are levelled books which match the children's current attainment and are linked to our phonics curriculum. We expect family at home to read these books with their child each evening and make comments in their child's reading record.  
• Each classroom will have a selection of books in their classroom which is directly linked with the class topic. This offers opportunities for the children to apply their reading skills across the curriculum.  

• By the time children leave Longshaw they are competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry and participate in discussions about books including evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader. 

Phonics 

The direct teaching of reading at Longshaw starts with phonics - at Longshaw we follow the Read Write Inc.  phonics programme. As part of this, children have a daily phonics session in small groups where they participate in speaking, listening and spelling activities that are matched to their developing needs. The teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure children are stretched and challenged and to identify children who may need additional support. Children work through the programme, learning and developing their phonics sounds and knowledge. 

Parents, you can find useful information about how RWI Phonics works and resources to support your child at home here.

Comprehension 

At Longshaw we directly teach reading comprehension. This starts alongside the teaching of phonics and as the children become fluent at decoding words, we teach daily comprehension lessons.  Our approach focuses on the development of background knowledge to aid comprehension then moves on to the development of vocabulary and incorporates the teaching of the reading domains as outlined in the national curriculum.  Our reading learning journey can be found here.

Help Your Child With Reading

We have put together lists what we consider to be age-appropriate texts for your children, these can be found here.

Writing

At Longshaw we endeavour to create a love for literacy. We want every child to leave Longshaw with the skills of an excellent writer who:

• Has the ability to write with fluency and has an author’s voice;
• Thinks about the impact they want their writing to have on the reader and knows how they will achieve this;
• Has a sophisticated bank of vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description;
• Can structure and organise their writing to suit the genre they are writing and include a variety of sentence structures;
• Displays excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented, punctuated, spelled correctly and neat;
• Re-reads, edits and improves their writing so every piece of writing they produce is to the best of their ability and better than the last.

Throughout their time at Longshaw, children develop their skills by exploring a whole range of different genres, with a focus on exploring a range of models of excellence and using these to guide the drafting and editing process. It is important to note that we not only develop a real enjoyment of writing in English lessons but in all subjects across the curriculum. We expect the highest standards of writing every time a child writes in any subject. If you would like to know more about the National Curriculum for English, please click here

Some of the genres the children will experience can be seen in the table below: