English
At Buxted, we are passionate about fostering a life-long love of language and literature in our children. To do this, we centre our reading and writing lessons around age-appropriate high quality texts which inspire, excite and engage.
Reading
Reading is at the heart of school life here at Buxted.
- Throughout the week in each of our classes we share stories together. We have engaging, rich discussions together, developing the habit of reading widely and often - for both pleasure and information. Whole class reading sessions further celebrate our passion for reading, modelling. We read from a range of texts and focus on a variety of reading skills – which include vocabulary knowledge, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising.
- Teachers further develop children’s skills and knowledge in regular reading sessions. In Key Stage1, this teaching is through explicit guided reading lessons following the Little Wandle program, where children read phonically decodable books at their level, linked with their phonics lessons. In addition, children are given phonically decodable books to practise their reading skills at home. These books are pitched to be the perfect level for each child, to help them build their confidence, independence and enjoyment of reading.
- In Key Stage 2, we use the Accelerated Reader Program. Children are tested at least three times a year so that we can assess their personal reading level. There’s then a vast range of high quality texts for them to choose from which match their individual reading level. After reading each book, children complete an online book quiz, which assesses their understanding of the book, checking their comprehension, inference and retrieval.
- Alongside these established and embedded reading approaches, we also do NFER (National Federation of Educational Research) reading comprehension papers three times a year. This gives our children valuable experience in preparing for national reading tests as well as allowing teachers to spot any areas for development.
- The school is well resourced with dedicated book areas in many classrooms, a school library and areas for quiet reading throughout the school.
Writing
At Buxted, we aim to provide children with stimulating and challenging writing tasks which foster their creativity and empowers them as writers.
- The school follows the principles of teacher modelling, supported pupil practice and independent writing, helping children to become confident and innovative writers.
- Writing lessons centre around high-quality texts. These capture children’s interest and help them understand how to structure work, create inspiring characters and use different styles and editorial devices to create impact and excitement.
- Children are encouraged to see writing as a journey and are given time and support to edit, improve and redraft their work.
- Writing is audience-focused and purposeful and children are given opportunities to write for a range of different purposes across the curriculum.
- We aim for children to develop quick, clear, flowing handwriting which enables their written work to flourish. We encourage them to take pride in their work and presentation.