English
At St George’s we passionately believe that the skills for successful Reading and Writing for learning are introduced from the moment a child enters our school.
A culture of reading and writing for joy and effect is introduced in the Early Years Foundation Stage and we expect that this will continue to develop and blossom as our children journey through the school and beyond.
When a child leaves St George’s we aim for them to take with them a love for reading a variety of texts, the confidence to tackle new and more challenging texts as well as being able to employ reading skills to research and access further learning. In turn, our children will be successful writers who can communicate their knowledge and understanding through their writing. By supporting our children to be intrinsically motivated learners we ensure that our children will leave our school unafraid to expand their knowledge by asking pertinent questions about what they have read and they will be confident to speak out about unfamiliar vocabulary.
We believe that every child in our school should be given the opportunity to read a rich and varied selection of texts throughout their time in school. By providing a text rich environment we will ensure that no child is disadvantaged when it comes to their exposure to quality books for children.
Our staff are all passionate readers and we have a well-stocked school library which is accessed by every child once a week. Children are encouraged to share their library book with their family and are given time in school to talk about their book with a warm and trusted adult should they need to. Teachers speak to children about their own favourite books, often choosing these to read as part of our daily story time for all year groups.
Reading
At St George's reading is taught through phonics, 1:1 reading, whole-class reading (KS1-2) and daily class texts. Our whole class reading lessons use the Take one Book scheme to engage, inspire and challenge our learners. These texts are carefully selected to ensure progression and breadth across different genres.
Reading Books
Children begin their reading book journey using Rhino Readers. These books allow the children to practice the mechanics of reading, using only the graphemes and tricky words that they have learned. When children need additional practice, we also have the Dandelion Scheme of books. These are used by our skilled staff to target specific gaps in phonic knowledge.
Once children have progressed through the Rhino Readers, they use the coloured book bands to build their comprehension skills and to build fluency and expression.
All children at St George's have the opportunity to visit the library once a week. Here they choose a book to share at home.
Writing
Our writing begins in Team Tavy where we use dough disco and squiggle while you wiggle to develop fine and gross motor skills. The children have many writing, mark-making, fine and gross motor development opportunities throughout each day and we use "drawing club" to further develop a love of writing.
In Key Stage 1 and 2 we use the Babcock teaching sequences to ensure that writing is progressive and that children are inspired by high-quality texts.
