English

At Lambs Lane, we believe that communication skills (reading, writing and oracy - speaking, listening and understanding) are at the very heart and foundation of everything. We know that we are working with children who are citizens of an ever-changing world, so feel it is incredibly important to give our pupils a foundation in communication skills which will work with them, and the world, for the rest of their lives.

We ensure all children leave us with a love of literature, and with the English skills they will need to access the next steps in their learning and living journeys. Reading, writing and oracy are embedded in everything we teach and increasingly evident across our entire curriculum.

The teaching of reading and writing starts in the Early Years Foundation Stage and continues as a priority throughout the school. We teach the foundations of reading, writing and spelling through the synthetic and systematic phonics programme, Read Write Inc. This programme works by allowing children to practice the sounds, words, writing and meanings of the English language until they become second nature. This phonics teaching continues into year 1 (and further through the school for the children who need additional practice).

As children progress through the school, the teaching of reading and writing is adapted to suit their stage of development. By following the National Curriculum, we ensure that children learn to write increasingly independently for a range of purposes and learn to include a wide range of punctuation and grammar.

We also ensure that children become ‘thinking readers’ - readers who are able to decode and ‘unpick’ texts in order to understand them and use them to bolster their understanding of the wider world. We aim to expose children to texts which connect with their wider learning, and which get them thinking and asking questions. Taking focused time to share stories/texts with each of our classes daily is something we are incredibly proud of, and something we enjoy immensely!

At Lambs Lane, we work in partnership with parents/carers - who work hard to ensure their children read regularly at home – to take pupils on a journey that will mould them into effective communicators at their own pace - and endeavour to make sure each child enjoys each step!