English

The English curriculum at Ambleside encompasses the following areas: phonics, reading, writing, SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and handwriting.

Reading at Ambleside

At Ambleside, we underpin a pleasure for reading across the school. We understand the importance of gaining this enthusiasm from a very young age and the impact that being a confident reader has on a child's wellbeing and their ability to thrive. 

Our aim is that the children will be competent readers by the time they leave Ambleside Primary School. They will actively seek to read a wide range of genres and take pleasure in recommending books to their peers. We want them to develop their comprehension skills sufficiently so that they are able to access what they need in their secondary education journey and beyond.

  • Read Write Inc (a systematic, synthetic phonics programme - SSP): We use a government approved SSP programme called Read Write Inc to teach phonics, reading and writing across the Early Years and Key Stage 1. Through the programme children read books pitched at their reading level and use these books as a stimulus for writing. In Early Years and Key Stage 1, we begin by teaching children to learn that they can use their phonics to spell absolutely anything and so encouraging a confidence in writing right from the start. As children progress through the programme, they are gradually introduced to more challenging texts learn how to read and write from a range of genres. As the children become more proficient in their phonic knowledge and reading skills, they begin to make more informed choices about how to spell a greater range of words accurately.
  • Accelerated Reader: In Key Stage 2, the children transition from Read Write Inc books to Accelerated Reader and Spelling Shed. Accelerated Reader closely scrutinises their reading ability and tailors their choice of reading materials based upon a reading range. This engages the children as they have quizzes to pass at the end of each book as well as half termly word counts to aim towards achieving.  The children in years 3-6 have opportunities to read with a range of adults in school.
  • Story time is timetabled daily across school and is highly regarded by the children. We love to express our enjoyment for reading with them. All classes have the opportunity to choose books from our school libraries but we also visit the local library on a rota basis. We celebrate World Book Day annually and have great links with our local, independent bookshop.

Writing at Ambleside

At Ambleside, we want all children to be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing and reach their full potential.

  • In Key Stage 1 and Early Years, we use the Read Write Inc programme to start our children off on their writing journey.
  • In Key Stage 2, we use the CUSP writing curriculum and teach children to write a range of styles which link to topics that they are learning in school or to high quality children's stories.

All teachers model the process of writing to ensure that children understand the thought process behind writing and to also demonstrate the high standards expected from all children. During this process, teachers think out loud, edit and demonstrate how and why they have structured their writing in that way. Children are then given the opportunity to participate in shared writing where the children contribute their ideas, comment on what’s great about their writing and what they could do to improve. This can then be scaffolded further into paired, supported and finally independent writing. 

Handwriting

We teach children the correct letter formation from the start of their school journey. As recommended by the British Dyslexia Association, we adopt a continuous cursive style of writing. Children will be introduced to the correct letter formation and exposed to pre-cursive and cursive script at the earliest stages of writing. Implements such as chunky triangular pencils, large chalks and chunky pens etc. are used by pupils to rehearse skills on paper, chalk boards, the pavement etc. In Early Years, the children are taught how to sit properly in order to have the correct posture for writing and how to hold a pencil in the correct position. In KS1, each class will have short, daily handwriting session and are taught letter formation through the Read Write Inc scheme. Within Key Stage 2, each class will have a specific handwriting session for 15 minutes per week. In handwriting sessions, spellings, relevant key vocabulary or sentences/paragraphs related to core texts will be modelled by an adult then practised by children.  Lined paper is used for handwriting specific exercises. Lines should be well spaced to start with – e.g. 12mm apart – gradually reducing to single lines that are 8mm apart. Teachers and teaching assistants model the agreed cursive style when modelling writing both in classes, on displays and in feedback in books.

Spellings

In Key Stage 1 and Early Years, spelling is taught using phonics and is introduced in a mastery approach using the Read Write Inc programme.

From Years 3 – 6, the children follow a progressive spelling scheme (Spelling Shed). Through exploring patterns and rules, we aim to create confident and proficient spellers using a discrete teaching approach underpinned by phonics. Children are also taught to:

  • spell accurately and identify reasons for mis-spellings
  • proof-read their spellings
  • recognise and use word origins, families and roots to build their skills
  • use dictionaries and thesauruses 

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