The teaching of the National Curriculum for English at Central Park Primary consists of the following:
Phonics: We use a synthetic phonics programme called RWI to help children learn to read and spell.
Phonics is one method of teaching children how to read and write using sounds. There are 44 sounds
in the English Language, which we put together to form words. A phonics lesson begins with revising
any sounds the children have already been taught. Then the teacher will introduce a new sound and
its spelling. Children then have an opportunity to practice the skill and apply it. We run parent
workshops to support parents in helping their children at home. The school is very well resourced
with phonic games and equipment and ICT is utilized where appropriate. Children’s phonics progress
is assessed regularly and children who need support are offered individual or group tutoring. Phonics
will be taught as a strategy to support reading across KS2, where needed, and a personalised
programme will be created.
See phonics results on data page by clicking here
Alongside the teaching of phonics we have a reading schema which has been created by the school.
The range of graded books across the school enables teachers to closely match the texts to reading
development, as well as providing children with a richer diet of reading material. All classes are
stocked with a class library. Teachers listen to children read during reciprocal reading and engage
with children in rich meaningful dialogue. Reading books for all year groups are handed out weekly,
so that children can read at home every day. To further promote reading, we subscribe to Bug Club.
Parents are encouraged to look at the website, and to speak to teachers if they require any more
information.
English lessons at Central Park Primary School are taught in units and these units are planned around
a variety of high quality texts that are pitched well for the age group. The use of these texts allow
plenty of room to strengthen and teach children comprehension skills and capture their imagination.
This is also to ensure excellent engagement from all pupils and that written outcomes from children
are of a high standard. With this, teachers also include the teaching of spelling, grammar and
punctuation through their modelling etc. Spelling is also taught exclusively, as is handwriting and
grammar on a regular basis.
Children at Central Park are provided with an abundance of opportunities to strengthen their ability
to communicate effectively, with each other, and with adults. Cooperative and collaborative learning
opportunities are integral to our lesson structure and we believe that talking is essential stage in the
development of learning with strong links to the power of talk improving language achievement.
We start to teach letter formation in Nursery, with children refining their writing as they progress
through key stage 2. We use Nelson handwriting scheme across the school to support consistency in
the development of letter formation. High expectations are maintained throughout the school with a
focus on different ways of publishing work in English to a high standard.
At Central Park, over 90% of our children use English as an additional language (EAL), and there are
over 56 different languages spoken across the school.
Our high expectations and quality teaching ensure that scores in all aspects of literacy (reading,
writing and spelling/grammar) are above national levels at the end of Year 6 (see the Results page
on the website for further detail) and the progress of our learners is well above the national average.
The ability to write fluently and with interesting detail on a number of topics throughout the curriculum.
A vivid imagination which makes readers engage with and enjoy their writing.
A highly developed vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description.
Well-organised and structured writing, which includes a variety of sentences structures.
Excellent transcription skills that ensure writing is well presented and punctuated, spelled correctly and neat.
A love of writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values.
Read and listen to a wide range of styles of text.
Look at books with a different alphabet to English.
Read and listen to whole books.
Listen to and discuss a wide range of texts.
Learn poetry by heart.
Increase familiarity with a wide range of books including myths and legends, traditional stories, modern fiction, classic British fiction and books from other cultures.
Take part in conversations about books.
Use school and community based libraries – look at classification systems.
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