Kincraig Primary School Literacy Policy March 2012
Rationale At Kincraig Primary School, we believe that our Literacy curriculum should be challenging, exciting, enjoyable, relevant, with the development of a love of literature at its heart. We strive to meet the needs of all children across the spectrum of abilities; we regard each of the children in our care as special and unique individuals. We recognise the entitlement of every child to have access to a broad, balanced and differentiated Literacy curriculum, irrespective of gender, race, colour or particular needs. We strive to ensure each child leaves our school as a confident and independent learner with a love of Literacy. Children should be able to:• • • • • •
read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, orchestrating a range of independent strategies to self-monitor and correct. have a love of books and read for enjoyment have a love of spoken and written Literacy understand a range of text types and genres – be able to write confidently in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation. be developing the powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness. have a suitable technical vocabulary to articulate their responses.
Organisation The curriculum has been organised in the following way:• • • • • • • • •
Daily Literacy Lessons Separate Guided Reading sessions A Creative Curriculum where Literacy skills are embedded and applied in foundation subjects Home reading books Class reading books Daily phonics sessions (in Foundation Stage and KS1) Phonics in KS2 where applicable Oral reading to children in class Special needs support in conjunction with SENCO and class teacher
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Planning Planning for the Literacy curriculum is book/theme based, and focused on developing writing skills both within Literacy and across the curriculum. Books/themes should last no longer than half a term. Planning should incorporate writing opportunities at least three times per week. Objectives should be taken from the old Literacy Framework which is used in conjunction with the Progression across fiction and non-fiction document available from the standards site or the Literacy Co-ordinator Planning is completed on the agreed format for the year group and is available on Fronter Monitoring and Assessment Formal Literacy lesson observations are carried out at least once every year. Feedback feeds into Performance Management where necessary. Data is collated across the year as per monitoring and evaluation timetable in the Assessment for Learning Policy using APP, Sats, optional SATS and day to day marking. Intervention, where necessary, is carried out through Assessment for learning to ensure areas for development are relevant and applied across the curriculum. The principles of good assessment for learning are integral to teacher’s practice and enable children to develop and apply their skills across the curriculum. Reading Reading in Nursery Reading in Reception and KS1 - is organised into home reading and school guided reading. Home reading texts are returned at least 3 times a week depending on the year group. Home reading books will be changed when the reading record is signed at home and teacher/TA feel the child is ready for a new book . Tricky words and high frequency words from ‘Letters and sounds’ may be sent home if the teacher thinks this is appropriate. Children will also be heard read in school by LSA/TA/Volunteer as frequently as possible. Shared and guided reading sessions take place across the week. Guided reading sessions take place in one literacy session each week. Guided reading groups are usually taken by a teacher (class teacher and PPA teacher) whilst the TA supports the rest of the class on planned, appropriate reading activities. Reception children start Guided reading sessions 3
as the teacher assesses they are ready for it, individual reading takes places until a group session is appropriate. An agreed planning format is used across KS1 and plans are uploaded to Fronter (VLE). Reading in KS2 is organised into home reading and school guided reading. Every child receives a school reading book to read at home with their parents/carers, this is returned on a daily basis and changed when the book has been read and signed off. Where applicable, some children will read their home reading book in school to a LSA/TA/Volunteer. Guided reading sessions take place daily. Children take part in a guided reading session with either the class teacher or LSA (always planned by the CT) this is then followed by a task related to the guided reading text usually with a writing/grammar/sentence structure/comprehension focus. Weekly plans are uploaded to Fronter (VLE). Phonics Phonics takes place on a daily basis across Foundation Stage and KS1. In Nursery and at the start of Reception Phase 1 Letters and Sounds is taught. Once teacher assessment suggests they are ready Reception start Phase 2. In Reception and KS1 the daily phonics takes place at 11.30am. In KS1 children are grouped according to the Phase they are working at. Letters and Sounds groups can be led by teachers or TA/LSA but will be planned for and assessed by a teacher. Plans are uploaded to Fronter (VLE). Writing Weeks At Kincraig we use writing weeks as stimulus to inspire children as part of our writing curriculum. These take place once per term, and involve a whole school stimulus or theme in order to develop an immersive writing environment, allowing children to succeed. Writing weeks last two weeks and often, in addition, incorporate foundation stage subject development. During these weeks the school often invite parents in to discuss and view children’s work, ensure children write in a variety of genres and develop their writing interest and ability. Standards of writing demanded are high; children produce a high standard of work. Creativity is developed. Learning Logs Kincraig children use Learning Logs to continue their learning journey at home. They are used across the whole school to enhance the curriculum and allow parents/carers the opportunity to work alongside their child/ren at home. Weekly/Fortnightly teachers will provide children with a question or statement to explore at home. They are expected to answer the question by choosing an appropriate medium, for example Newspaper report, labeled diagram. Blogging 4
www.kincraigblogs.net Kincraig Primary School and Children’s Centre have been blogging since September 2011. Each class hosts a blog and is updated on a regular basis. The blogs allow us to share School life with Home and beyond. Class teachers are responsible for moderating any comments on the blog and any inappropriate comments are to be reported to the ICT coordinator.
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