We aim to instill in children a lifelong love of Literacy. This is achieved through encouraging children to speak, read and write about poetry, drama or stories and facts. Literacy is taught through a broad and balanced curriculum incorporating children’s own interests. The teaching of Literacy is structured around the New National Curriculum and the Early Learning Goals in the Early Years. We use a wide range of materials to enhance the delivery of quality first teaching. We also adopt a cross-curricular approach to literacy which is supported by the strength and presence of our dimension work. This provides a meaningful link between core subjects and wider curriculum areas. Teachers deliver engaging, high-quality lessons that support and challenge all pupils. 

Writing

Opportunities, organisation and provision for the teaching and learning of writing are as follows:

Spellings- From Year 2 spelling is taught and tested weekly. Spellings are sent home through Microsoft Teams to learn on a weekly basis. Spelling rules, letter strings and high frequency words are taught and then tested.

Emergent writing - In EYFS, writing opportunities are available in all areas as part of the daily provision. Teachers model and scaffold writing within play, following the children’s interests and dimensions.

Shared Writing- This is a consistent strategy employed by all teaching staff across the school to ensure that the writing process is collaborative, engaging and fun. Essentially, these opportunities aim to provide stretch and challenge whilst also supporting peers to share knowledge and grow through this process. 

Independent Writing - Fostering independence within writing is a key focus for all children and is enriched by the strong links between Literacy and Dimension. Each half term, children are provided with opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of writing through independent tasks (Talk Up, Write Up), however independence is encouraged and celebrated. 

Grammar – Grammar is taught discretely following the national curriculum objectives and integrated throughout writing across the curriculum.

Handwriting - Throughout the school, a cursive handwriting script is taught using the 'Cranborne Scheme'. 

Marking - Work is marked and assessed in line with the Marking and Assessment Policies.

Assessment - Reading and Writing are carefully assessed and moderated by teachers within school regularly and collaborate with partner schools to ensure moderation is robust. Work is assessed against the National Curriculum objectives. Individual progress is tracked and monitored through regular staff AAP meetings. KS2 Teachers use a combination of formative and summative assessment to identify children’s next steps. Children have statutory assessments and/or tests at Year 1 (phonics screening), Year 2 (reading and writing) and Year 6 (reading and writing). Non- statutory assessment of Reading is carried out in KS2 throughout the academic calendar.