English
Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.
Mary Schmich
At Romsey Primary & Nursery, we are committed to fostering a strong foundation in English for our children. Our English curriculum is designed to enhance skills in speaking & listening, reading and writing, ensuring that every child develops the confidence and ability to communicate effectively. We believe that a solid grasp of the English language is essential for academic success and personal growth.
Reading is one of the highest priorities. Staff use carefully chosen books and extracts to inspire pupils to read. Pupils share in this enthusiasm. In lessons, they eagerly discuss authors’ use of language. The well-stocked library, book swaps and readathon challenges help encourage a love of reading.
(Ofsted 2024)
We are passionate about reading at RPS. We actively promote reading for pleasure and share our favourite stories and books with the children. Children are encouraged to read regularly through the 'Bookflix' scheme and this is encouraged through having a wide range of books on offer in our classrooms, school library and at break and lunch times. Early readers gain confidence through making links between letters and the sounds they make through the phonics programme. We are ambitious for all of our children in becoming fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery and Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression. This ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
High quality texts are the driver for our English curriculum. Children are hooked into a book in exciting ways, before reading and exploring the style, grammar and punctuation used for good effect. Throughout an English unit, there are different opportunities to write before the children create a longer 'showcase' write to demonstrate everything they have learned. The English curriculum is supported through discrete handwriting and spelling sessions, providing time for these skills to be taught before applying to a longer piece of writing.