Reading and writing are central to the school day and our curriculum is designed so that children leave Hawley as fluent, comprehending readers with a love of books, and clear and engaging writers who can communicate their thoughts and feelings.
The vast majority of our written work links to topic work and to texts we have carefully chosen to motivate, inspire and broaden children’s knowledge of literature. Teachers create meaningful reasons for writing, with a clear purpose and audience. Each piece of written work is careful scaffolded in small steps to ensure successful learning, and this is balanced with the children having regular independent writing opportunities to show what they know! The teaching of spelling and grammar, essential tools for writing, is embedded in each writing unit.
All children read daily in school. During this time there will be children reading silently, nose in a book; guided reading groups facilitated by an adult; one to one reading with an adult; or a teacher-led whole class reading session. We place a great emphasis on high quality literature for children, and staff pride themselves in keeping up with new titles hosting book groups for other schools. We spend hundreds of pounds each year on new titles, have carefully curated book corners in each class and a well-used library.
Listening to, reading and performing poetry is embedded in our curriculum, and ending every single day with story-time to develop a love of reading and a wide vocabulary is a non-negotiable!
In Early Years Foundation Stage and through to Year 1 we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme to support a rigorous approach to the teaching of phonics. We have group reading books which link to the daily phonics teaching, which are read three times in class for decoding, prosody and comprehension. These are then taken home, along with ‘shared reading books’, selected to add to a rich reading diet, which can be read alongside parents and carers.
