Shipton Bellinger Primary School

English at Shipton Bellinger Primary School

Welcome to the English page of our school website. This is the place to come to find out more information about how we teach your child to read, write and communicate effectively. On this page, you will be able to find curriculum information, helpful links, homework support and our English policies. This information is just a snapshot of our English provision - please get in contact if you would like any additional information about English at Shipton.

We believe passionately that true literacy is the ability to gain, utilise and communicate with powerful knowledge. This knowledge is our children’s key to the brightest and best future. Enjoyment of and engagement with English begins with a vibrant talk-based curriculum in the earliest days of EYFS and, through structured, sequential, rigorous teaching, it is carried with our Year 6 leavers through the rest of their lives.

As always, please get in contact with us if you have any questions or would like more information about your child's English journey here at Shipton Bellinger.

Spoken Language

At Shipton Bellinger we believe passionately that the ability to communicate effectively underpins all of our learning across the curriculum. We believe that, before children can write, they must be able to talk effectively while keeping in mind the purpose and audience of their language choices. For this reason, our writing curriculum is hinged around high-quality talk. We utilise a range of communication strategies, including Talk for Writing, Helicopter Stories and Philosophy for Children.

The spoken language curriculum objectives are broken into logically sequenced year group "I can" statements, as supported by the Communicating the Curriculum objectives. These objectives are then actively taught throughout the curriculum through the use of stem sentences. Whole school projects, for example our Autumn whole school poetry week, support these objectives in a meaningful and engaging way.

Use the links below to find out more information about some of the resources we use to develop spoken language.

Phonics

We use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds as our systematic, synthetic phonics scheme. Discrete phonics teaching is taught in the earliest days of Early Years and continues until our learners have a mastery of the graphemes and phonemes that make up the English language and are able to apply them to read a wide range of words fluently. Learners will take part in daily small group reading and a daily whole class phonics lesson. They are also able to access a wide range of text genres through our Big Cat reading scheme. Catch up programs are built into the Little Wandle progression to ensure that no one misses out on any of this vital knowledge.

Click on the links below to find more information about how reading is taught in the early stages of your child's journey.

Little Wandle for Parents Glossary of terms Grow the Code Little Wandle Policy

Reading

At Shipton Bellinger Primary, reading and books are at the heart of our curriculum. Our termly topics are scaffolded by a wide variety of cross-curricular rich texts and reading is embedded throughout every subject. Through access to a wide variety of carefully curated texts and an exciting, child-led curriculum, children gain first the phonic knowledge, then the comprehension skills to read and understand anything they choose.

The ways that our learners develop as readers will vary depending on their age. They will begin their reading journey at Shipton by sharing stories, enjoying rhymes and songs and exploring picture books. Small group book talk, 1:1 reading and direct skills teaching will later lead to whole-class shared reading and using books for independent research and analysis.

Some areas of the curriculum, such as phonics are taught using carefully structured, linear schemes. Please see the information above regarding how phonics is taught at Shipton Bellinger Primary School. Other parts of the curriculum, such as comprehension, are revisited time and time again across your child's whole school learning journey.

Our vibrant school reference library, in-class reading corners and our wide range of carefully chosen reading scheme texts means that our school is full to the brim with engaging, carefully curated books!

2023-2024 3Is Document	Our Reading Policy	2023-2024 Core Text List	Help for Parents
Recommended Reads	Reading Books Info	Reading Scheme levels	Early Reading Parent Info

Writing

Through structured teaching of spelling, grammar and handwriting and supported by strategies such as colourful semantics, we provide the children with the tools they need to make informed writing choices. Carefully chosen model texts and text type "toolkits" mean that our learners are able to craft texts across a wide range of genres and for a wide range of real-world purposeful contexts. Writing and Reading are intrinsically linked here at Shipton and our exciting core texts provide a stimulus for writing, drama and purposeful play.

Three part learning journeys ensure that opportunities for playful exploration and cross-curricular inspiration are balanced with careful studies of relevant grammar. These build to a wide range of regular opportunities to write independently with peer and adult-supported editing to ensure the absolute best quality writing outcomes.