English

Our intent at Southfields is that every child views themselves as readers and writers and secures the necessary reading, writing and linguistic skills to become enthusiastic and independent learners.

From Nursery through to Year 6, a sequential curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure all of our children are exposed to a range of literature that reflects our school’s vast range of nationalities, life-experiences and home lives so that books become relatable and inclusive. Lessons are developed to allow children to explore and immerse themselves within the themes and characters of a text, as well as teaching them questioning skills to develop deeper thinking.

We strive to ensure that all our pupils receive relevant learning experiences when reading, writing, speaking and listening which equip them with the fundamental tools to achieve both at school and beyond. We endeavour to ensure that we provide pupils with a ‘language rich’ environment, ensuring that vocabulary is taught across the curriculum with the view that children must first be able to orally use language before they can write it.

Through reading a wide range of quality texts and having meaningful discussions, we aim to create valuable, contributing members of society. The acquisition of language skills is of the utmost importance and therefore the teaching of all aspects is given a high priority within school.

Teachers support the learning journey through the use of scaffolding and modelling to ensure that as many children as possible can access and achieve using our own personalised curriculum. Children are encouraged to become individual writers through weekly creative writing lessons, all outcomes are celebrated and reading for pleasure is prioritised and championed throughout the school. Our vision is to ensure that every child achieves their full potential in all aspects of English, to become confident readers, writers and communicators.

English Documents

Helping Your Child With Phonics, Reading and Writing At Home

Regular reading at home is crucial from Nursery to Year 6. It is important that parents listen to children read and ask them about texts in order to develop comprehension skills. Sharing books is also just as important as listening to a child read; this promotes a love of reading and shows the people around them as readers too.

Research shows that children who read for just 20 minutes a day are exposed to over 2 million words a year! The acquisition of vocabulary and reading fluency supports all aspects of the curriculum, supports good mental health and knowledge about the world. Evidence shows that there is a direct link between reading for pleasure, attainment, success at secondary school and those who gain the highest paid jobs in later life.

Alongside their school reading book, the children have a reading journal to develop their comprehension skills. We encourage children to read other texts such as a library book, a magazine or a newspaper. Any reading at home is recorded in the child’s reading record.

All children will bring home a book banded text and a library book of their choice to read for pleasure. Children on the phonics scheme will also bring home a text matched to their Read, Write Inc level.

Reading Documents

Writing Documents

To further support:

  • We provide online resources to support all aspects of English which children and families can use free of cost at home. Southfields currently provides access to Education City and Oxford Owl.
  • Linked Home Learning Projects provide children and parents with opportunities for independent learning outside of school; choices that require the children to use the English skills that they have learnt in class. This practice of using and applying English skills, including outside trips or visits, is key to embedding and consolidating learning. Whilst completing these projects, as with any written homework, children should practise their handwriting skills. Developing ‘fluency and comprehension’ in reading and writing is one of our key drivers that we focus on in school.
  • Children will learn spelling skills in class and practise these in a variety of ways. Regular practice of spellings will help your child to become faster and more accurate when writing – helping them in every area of the curriculum. The website www.spellingframe.co.uk is strongly recommended to help support your child’s practice of spellings.