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English

English is at the core of our curriculum, permeating all areas of school life to ensure our children are given the opportunity to deepen their learning. Through daily lessons, children learn the essentials of English language such as phonics, spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence construction, together with the skills to help shape and organise texts.

Reading

A variety of individual reading schemes are used in school to provide enjoyment, breadth, challenge and interest for pupils. Reading schemes used include Oxford Reading Tree and Collins Big Cat. All classes have access to our library as well as their own inviting book areas in class. Guided reading lessons take place daily. These sessions include a mixture of teacher led work, follow-up activities, phonics work, independent reading and some time to simply read for pleasure.

Reading with your child every day hugely improves their reading success and this is something we encourage at Abbey Woods.

Writing and speaking

At Abbey Woods, we recognise that language is a key building block in child development, and we aim to equip every child with the literacy skills they need. This will allow them to enjoy reading for knowledge as well as pleasure and enjoyment, and to write with a sense of purpose and audience. We also encourage our children to express themselves effectively and to listen and learn from each other.

At Abbey Woods, children are taught to listen well, speak clearly, read enthusiastically and write effectively for a wide range of purposes and audiences. Children are supported and encouraged as they learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively on their way to becoming enthusiastic and independent learners.

Phonics

Phonics is an essential element in teaching children to read and write. We use the Read Write Inc to plan the teaching of phonics in our school. This scheme is closely followed, and helps our pupils to develop vital early reading skills.

Books are carefully matched to pupils and children are grouped effectively to ensure they get the support and challenge they need to be successful.  

Parents of children in our Nursery and Reception are invited to take part in a phonics workshop to learn about how we teach phonics in order for them to support their child at home with their reading.