English

At Knollmead we believe that English is a fundamental life skill.

Reading

Our aim at Knollmead Primary School is to develop skilled readers with a love of reading. We seek to develop readers who can decode and understand a wide range of texts written for different purposes and think critically about what they are reading. Through our carefully considered curriculum, all children have the opportunity to read and explore a wide range of high-quality books and poetry, with access to a diverse mix of authors and genres to help them to discover their interests and preferences in reading. Our pupils are explicitly taught vocabulary in all subjects to address vocabulary gaps and help them to understand new words in context and ultimately access more complex texts.

Where children are not reading and understanding at an appropriate level, we provide different levels of intervention: we want all our pupils to become young people who can navigate the rest of the education system successfully and understand the world around them. 

Libraries are a wonderful place to introduce children to a wide range of books. Good school libraries can support children’s academic engagement and achievement and improve their empathy and wellbeing. We believed that our children deserved a library to be proud of and so our PTA and site manager worked tirelessly to raise money and refurbish it. We were honoured to have the library opened by the poet Micheal Rosen. 

In our beautiful, cosy library children have the opportunity to sit down with a book or have their favourite story read to them by one of our year 6 pupil leaders during our lunchtime library club. Every child in the school has the opportunity to visit the library once a week and borrow books with their class. We also take some classes on trips to the local library so they can get their own library card and go in their own time. Our reading culture is strong and children love to seek out something special to read. 

Knollmead Primary School has a clear, consistent, whole school approach to reading, which recognises that reading needs a multi-strategy approach. Competence and pleasure in reading is the key to independent learning and is given the highest priority, enabling the children to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. Success in reading has a direct effect upon progress in all other areas of the curriculum and is crucial in developing children's self confidence and motivation. 

We organise the reading in school and at home to provide as many opportunities as possible to:

Read to

We read to the children as often as possible with class texts, assembly stories and library club and we encourage parents to read to their children at home. We introduce key authors to the children in each year group to broaden their reading experience and help them find books that they will enjoy. We ensure we read a range of fiction, non fiction and poetry to the class over each year.

Read with

We use whole class guided reading which includes lots of choral reading and practice of fluency. Children reading alongside the teacher provides them with support to develop their expression and pace when reading.

Read by…...the child

Whilst on the reading scheme children are provided with 3 types of books and these are changed once a week.

• Two books which are easy for them to decode which they can use to develop their fluency and storytelling skills with.

• A book which is at their decoding ability to help them practice the phonics they have been learning.

• An interest book which they have chosen from the reading corner or library. This is designed for their parents to read to them so that they hear a good example of reading and a range of vocabulary. Parents can read books to their children in any language which they use at home.

When they progress from the reading scheme, children are encouraged to use the ‘five finger test’ to choose a book to read. This ensures that they are able to decode and understand the text in order to be able to enjoy it.

Sometimes they might choose an easier book and focus on their fluency and storytelling and other times they would choose a ‘perfect choice’ book to develop their vocabulary and decoding skills.

Our aim is to develop a lifelong love of reading in our pupils.

Help your Child to read and write

Writing

Writing is a vital means of communicating our thoughts, instructions, opinions, knowledge and ideas and it is essential that all pupils have the opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to put this into practice. We aim to create learning situations in which all children will experience a structured approach to learning writing skills (including grammar and handwriting) in order to become competent writers.

Speaking and Listening

We believe that communication, both oral and written, is the key to success, to social integration and to personal development and happiness. We aim to equip our children with the skills, knowledge and experiences they need to use language effectively. Speaking and listening activities are embedded throughout the curriculum. Teachers encourage the regular use of 'Learning Partners' and group discussion to allow children to develop their oral skills and their ability to communicate and cooperate with their peers. Key vocabulary is pre taught to the children giving them the necessary tools to enable them to fully participate in all lessons.