Reading

At Earlsmead Primary School, our intent is to cultivate a community of life-long readers through a reading curriculum that is fully inclusive, embraces diversity, and is coherently sequenced. Our carefully designed curriculum aims to foster a love for reading, develop critical thinking skills, and empower our students to become confident readers who appreciate the richness of different perspectives and experiences. Our curriculum includes literature that represents a wide range of experiences, cultures, and identities, both locally and globally. By adapting and developing reading materials to incorporate diverse perspectives and experiences, we promote empathy, understanding, and respect for others. By developing strong foundational skills, promoting comprehension, nurturing a love for reading, fostering reading fluency and embracing diversity, we strive to create a positive and enriching reading experience for every student at Earlsmead.

Our aims are to ensure that all pupils:

• Will be both independent and reflective readers who can read fluently and for meaning.
• Develop a love of reading that becomes a life-long habit, for both pleasure and information seeking.
• Feel confident and able to contribute by using their knowledge of reading skills to access all areas of learning, where they can elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas.
• Appreciate a rich and varied language developed through exposure to diverse text with global perspectives.
• Bring reading to life and give it a purpose through speaking and listening, use of music, drama and performance and are confident to share and challenge ideas through debate.

Writing

At Earlsmead Primary School, we intend for our children to leave as confident, capable and independent writers, who not only understand the purpose and importance of writing but also enjoy the writing process.  We intend for key writing skills to be caught, sought and taught so that children can use and apply these writing skills across the curriculum.

Following the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum, we plan a progressive programme, which builds upon previous teaching and ensures that each child’s needs are met. We want our children to draw upon a rich exposure to quality literature so that throughout the writing process, they can write as a reader and read as a writer.  We intend for our children to be able to communicate and express themselves effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences. 

We plan opportunities for children to develop their oracy skills by:

• Listening and responding appropriately to adults and their peers 
• Using relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• Articulating and justifying answers, arguments and opinions, giving well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes
• Using spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
• Speaking audibly and fluently with an increasing command of standard English
• Participating in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates
• Considering and evaluating different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others 
• Selecting and using appropriate registers for effective communication

Our curriculum cultivates a sense of independence in writing, whilst being inclusive, enriching and diverse.  Earlsmead Primary School recognises the importance of children acquiring a wide vocabulary. In order for all learners to share ideas, develop vocabulary and to internalise language patterns, we use the principles of the Read to Write scheme of work so that they can draw upon an extensive linguistic repertoire when writing.

We also want all of our children to be able to spell new words by effectively applying spelling patterns and rules. They will have a solid understanding of grammar and apply it effectively to their writing. We believe that all children should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing by developing a legible, cursive, handwriting style in preparation for their move to secondary school. Ultimately, we aim for all children to reach their full potential in writing.