Developing literate citizens of the future.
English enables pupils to develop a love of literature which is shared and encouraged. Children will develop and understanding of how our language works and be able to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them, whilst engaging with quality texts. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading will enable pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know, enabling them to participate fully as a member of society. Writing allows pupils to express themselves creatively and with clarity, refining their ability to organise ideas, adapt their style for different purposes and audiences, and develop their own voice as authors.
Phonics Bug Club
We use Phonics Bug club to ensure:
- A solid foundation in reading for all: Bug Club Phonics uses the systematic synthetic phonics approach. This heavily influenced current government policy as it was shown to give the best foundation in reading for all children regardless of social and economic background.
- With fiction and non-fiction titles from Phases 1 to 5 this ensures children read from books with the sounds they know as they are learning to read. Phonically decodable books are also used from Oxford Reading Tree Floppy's phonics and Songbirds.
- Accessible and inclusive phonics teaching.
- Comfortable and confident learners: Videos of well-known CBeebies characters are weaved into lessons and characters, such as the Alphablocks, appear in the books helping to link the children’s home environment with the school.
- A rich and varied reading experience: As part of the Bug Club other books are woven in that aren’t fully decodable to ensure enthusiasm for reading is nurtured.
- Frequent and detailed assessment: In addition to the end of unit and phase summative assessments, appropriate and informal assessment opportunities are offered in the daily lessons and through fun games in the online world.
Please click on the link below for a video to support saying the pure phonic sounds.
Saying the pure phonics sounds
At CVSF we want to develop all children’s ability to decode but also to be able to understand the texts which they read. We aim to provide opportunities for children to read for a purpose but also to read for enjoyment too by valuing and introducing a wide variety of reading material.
Our English curriculum is based on carefully chosen texts for each class which link to the topics they are studying. These texts are used to inspire writing of all genres. There is a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry within each term and texts have been chosen to reflect the diverse world in which we live with a mix of authors old and new. During the year, we have a focus book which the whole school studies and enjoys. An example of this was The Barnabus Project which also had a whole school focus on emotional health and wellbeing.
All teachers read aloud to their class each day and once a week devote a session to ‘Book Talk’ and give children a chance to express their opinions about the books they enjoy. All classes have a book area where children can choose to read for pleasure through the day.
Children are strongly encouraged to take part in reading competitions such as the Yearly Library Holiday Challenge and Calderdale Book of the Year. Each year, we use Book Week (usually around World Book Day) to celebrate books and authors and to engage everyone, staff and students into reading for pleasure. During that week, we have had Book Fairs, and reading competitions such as ‘extreme reading challenges’ and of course lots of dressing up.
Guided Reading
At our school, reading is at the heart of learning, and we use ActiveLearn to support and inspire every child on their reading journey. The scheme provides a wide range of engaging, levelled texts that motivate pupils to read regularly, both in school and at home. ActiveLearn helps children develop essential reading skills such as fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary, while also encouraging a genuine love of stories and information texts. By combining high-quality resources with interactive activities, ActiveLearn enables us to ensure that every pupil makes progress and grows in confidence as a reader.
ActiveLearn Primary is an easy-to-use online learning platform where pupils can access teacher-assigned books, interactive activities, and games both in class and at home PearsonEdTech Impact . Through their personalised ‘My Stuff’ area, children can log in to explore a variety of engaging texts, earn rewards, and build a genuine love of reading PearsonEdTech Impact.
A flagship part of this platform is Bug Club, our core reading programme. With over 500 finely levelled eBooks that span fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and guided reading, Bug Club is designed to nurture confident and motivated readers Pearson. Parents can easily support their children at home—with a dedicated Grown-ups area, helpful guidance notes included in printed books, and video tutorials that explain how to access eBooks, complete quizzes, and reinforce reading skills stmhull.org pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk.
Teachers benefit too: they can quickly plan lessons, assign books or activities to individuals or groups, track progress through detailed reporting dashboards, and even set homework or interventions with a click. All of this helps ensure your child receives timely support, and that you stay informed about their reading journey every step of the way.
In Class 1 and 2 (or as needed), a phonics based approach is the main focus but as word-reading and fluency develops the comprehension skills below are taught and practised—
Vocabulary
Inference
Prediction
Explanation
Retrieval
Summarising
Class 1 (and Class 2 as needed) also have group reading and all children read 1:1 with an adult to practise reading. These books are carefully matched to the phonic phase or reading stage the children are working on. Any children who need additional support in reading will also benefit from additional 1:1 or small group sessions.
Home Reading
All children can take books to share at home. Lower down the school the books are carefully matched to the phonic phase or phonemes the child is working on. After phase 6, children move through the reading stages and then become free readers, choosing their own book to take home. Parents are also encouraged to read to their children or share other books at home too. All books shared can be recorded in our home-scholl reading records so staff can ensure children are reading a range of texts and reading regularly as well as being able to talk to the children about their interests in reading and respond to these in the classroom. All children also have an online page on Bug Club where books, phonics games and phoneme games can be allocated for work at home.
Our Reading Nook and Library ... where else would you rather be!
