Speaking and Listening

At Castlefort JMI, we believe that an effective focus on speaking and listening not only supports pupils’ learning, but also enables them to develop a wide range of essential skills, such as working as a group, listening and responding to others, discussing, negotiating, expressing ideas, explaining and describing.

Speaking and listening is embedded throughout the curriculum. At Castlefort, we actively teach children to think for themselves and form their own opinions on topical issues. Children are expected to express their opinions, giving reasons for their way of thinking, and debate real-life scenarios. Our creative curriculum also facilitates opportunities for pupils to learn, express and explain their newly acquired knowledge to others.

By developing our pupils’ ability to listen well, we simultaneously develop our children’s ability to become independent learners, as by hearing accurately, they are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own vocabulary. 

Phonics and Reading

We teach phonics through a daily session with attainment groups using the ‘Little Listeners’ scheme (Nursery) and the ‘Read, Write, Inc’ programme (EYFS and KS1). The core reading scheme in school is Collins ‘Big Cat’ and this includes a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts. More confident readers are able to choose from class readers and our well-stocked library. Pupils are encouraged to read daily at home and this is monitored through a home/school reading diary. Interventions are provided for under-achieving pupils. These include Read, Write, Inc one-to-one catch up, guided reading groups and Nessy online programmes. 

Reading and Writing

At Castlefort JMI, we aim to produce creative writers who leave primary education feeling confident in both transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing). We believe that opportunities for teachers to enhance pupils’ vocabulary arise naturally from their reading. We therefore insist that for each creative curriculum topic taught, there is always at least one high-quality linked text. Using this text, we aim to teach our pupils new skills, whilst simultaneously improving their reading comprehension.

As the vocabulary becomes increasingly more challenging, our teachers will show our pupils how to understand the relationships between words, how to understand nuances in meaning, and how to develop their understanding of, and ability to use, figurative language. Where possible, work relating to spelling, punctuation and grammar is taught alongside the topics, through an appropriate context.

To read more about how reading is taught at Castlefort, please take a moment to read the leaflet below...

Classic Fiction and Poetry

As well as teaching written skills through modern literature, we also believe there remains a place for teaching classic fiction. Once a year, the whole school chooses a classic novel to study and students complete written tasks around this text. Poetry is also held with high regard.  When children listen to poems being read orally, they build their listening skills. A poem can be used to teach sentence structure, grammatical skills and most importantly creative imagery. 

The school has recently achieved the Basic Skills National Quality Mark in recognition of its provision for English. The school is continuing to develop a balanced curriculum that encourages all the children to become independent learners and continues to function in a calm and ordered manner, where learning is fun for the pupils, but achievement paramount.

To read more about how the English curriculum is organised and which books are taught in each year group, please read the English Long Term Plan below...

Handwriting

We are very proud of our pupils' handwriting and take particular care in our cursive/joined-up handwriting style. We use Letter-Join as the basis of our handwriting policy that covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum.

Handwriting is a basic skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. At the end of Key Stage 2, all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and eventually, speedy, joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes. We aim to make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.

To download the current letter formation alphabet, please click on the 'Handwriting Formations' documents below. 

If you want further information about the curriculum content your child is covering please call the school office to arrange an appointment to see the subject leader.