Intent

It is our intent that our children develop physically, emotionally, socially, verbally and cognitively in an inclusive environment which values all cultures, communities and people. At the heart of our school are a set of core values: Love, Honesty, Co-operation, Responsibility and Respect. These values underpin everything that we do and provide the vehicle for delivering an ambitious and aspirational curriculum.

At Bierton, the Literacy curriculum has been designed with the children, the communities and the location in mind and considers the reflections of governors, teachers, parents and children. Our curriculum design is progressive, continuous and sequential and this is supported by the approaches we have chosen to adopt – The Write Stuff and Read Write Inc. Our sequential curriculum is designed to teach the children skills and vocabulary that the children can then apply in a variety of situations.

Through this we aim to install a level of enjoyment in reading that inspires and encourages them to read a wide variety of books, texts and other resources.

We strive to support the development of independence, resilience and creative thinking of our pupils, preparing them for the next stage in their learning journey. We support children in building their self-esteem and confidence and allow them to realise their potential and ‘find their light and let it shine’, linked to our whole school vision.

Implementation

You can't teach pleasure: you have to share it
(Frank Cottrell Boyce, quoted in Weber, 2013)

We are using reading for pleasure pedagogy to engage our children in reading and to find enjoyment within it. The approach encompasses four elements; reading aloud, informal book talk and recommendations, and independent reading time within a highly social reading environment. Combined in different patterns and made real through action and continual reflection of the part of the teachers, these practices will contribute to the development of communities of readers in school. It will help the children to develop the skills of that enable them to participate in spontaneous inside-text talk; child-initiated conversations about texts and reading. Through whole class reading sessions we can explore these areas and support our children to develop their reading skills.

Impact

At Bierton CE Combined School and Nursery, pupils leave our setting with a wide vocabulary and the tools needed to be a successful independent writer and this will support them in the next stage of their academic life. In addition, we want them to apply their knowledge while having an awareness of how to be socially, morally, spiritually and culturally responsible; how to make positive contributions to the local community and how to endeavour to allow their light to shine and continue to shine brightly as they embark on their next journey. We aim for all of our children to leave Bierton, respectful, responsible, ambitious and with a thirst for life and all it has to offer.

The impact of our Literacy curriculum is formatively assessed daily and summatively assessed throughout the year. End of year assessments are shared with the children’s next teacher and pupils’ achievements in statutory assessments (currently the Year 1 phonics screening check and SATs in Year 2 and Year 6) are also used to evaluate the impact of our curriculum. In addition, to assess and adapt our provision, we use reflections and feedback from: Governor visits and meetings; trips and visitors; pupil voice; and internal monitoring of teaching and learning.

Please click on the images below to view the progression of skills in reading from early years to Year 6.

                                  Early Years and Key Stage 1                                                                                     Key Stage 2