English and Phonics
Phonics at Waltham St Lawrence Primary School
At Waltham St Lawrence Primary School we teach synthetic phonics throughout the school. We primarily follow Read Write Inc Scheme but use many other resources to support our teaching. It aims for children to develop fluent word reading skills and have good foundations in spelling by the end of key Stage 1. Your child’s class teacher will be able to tell you which phase they are working in. The teaching of phonics begins in Reception, using Read Write Inc phonics to introduce sounds to the children. Children will then learn further sounds in line with the Programme. In order to support children to make the most progress in phonics, they are organised into groups from EYFS, Year 1 through to Year 3. Regular assessment is carried out and these groups remain fluid to ensure that children can move between groups as needed. Phonics is taught to children in Years 4, 5 and 6 where needed.
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
In 2011-2012 the government introduced the statutory checking of phonics for Year 1 children. The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a national check of children’s phonic knowledge that all children in England are required to complete. The check comprises of a mixture of real and nonsense words which children have to decode/read. The check takes place at the end of year 1. An example of the check published by the Department for Education can be viewed below.
Parents will be invited to a meeting while their child is in Year 1 to find out more information.
Reading
Our school reading books incorporate a range of reading schemes to enable children to have a breadth of reading experiences and the opportunity to read books that interest them. Our books are split into groups following a colour band system. Children will work their way through the colour bands throughout their time in the school. We encourage parents to read with their children for 10 minutes every day in Reception and KS1, 15 minutes every day in Year 3 and 4 and 20 minutes every day in Year 5 and 6. Comments should then be recorded in the children’s reading diary. In KS1, we make sure the children are heard reading individually with a Teaching Assistant or parent volunteer on a daily basis. We have found that this support enables children to make rapid progress in reading. Throughout the rest of the school we have Guided Reading sessions each week. In these small Guided Reading Groups children read with an adult focusing on specific reading skills and strategies. We also ask parents to volunteer if they can and provide them with guidelines in how to support children in their reading.
Writing
Children at Waltham St Lawrence Primary School enjoy accessing high quality writing experiences. These writing experiences are often linked to the children’s topic and therefore are rich in purpose. We use Pie Corbett ‘Talk for Writing’. Teachers plan opportunities for children to:
- Explore and read a range of texts linked to the genre.
- Develop their speaking and listening skills, including role play, drama and presentational techniques.
- Develop a good understanding of the features of different text types.
- Experience high quality teacher modelled writing.
- Plan and complete short and extended pieces of writing.
- Evaluate, edit and improve written pieces of work.
Children will develop key word and sentence level skills through the genre that they are learning about and in cross-curricular writing. Teachers will identify areas for development for children and these will become their targets. These targets will be addressed during writing sessions. Opportunities for regular short burst writing are encouraged throughout a unit of work, enabling the children to experience writing opportunities as regularly as possible.
Mathematics
Mathematics is all around us underpins our daily life and is critical in our children’s future. At Waltham St Lawrence Primary School we believe that it is vital for our pupils to be mathematically literate and mathematically confident as we aim to educate them for their future lives. By developing the ability to calculate, to reason and to solve problems and an awareness of a whole network of concepts and relationships we are able to make sense of the world around us. Armed with these skills and the language to express them our pupils will be able to take their place confidently in a numerate society.
Our aims and objectives
- To promote enjoyment and enthusiasm for learning through practical activity, exploration and discussion.
- To promote confidence and competence and have a positive attitude to maths.
- To give children a breadth of mathematical understanding and the appropriate mathematical vocabulary to express their ideas clearly.
- To develop logical thinking and reasoning skills through a problem solving and an investigative approach.
- To develop the ability to calculate mentally using a variety of methods.
- To teach children ways of recording mathematically which consolidate their understanding and equip them to deal with larger numbers.
- To develop their recognition and use of symbolic and graphical representation to express relationships;
- To develop a practical understanding of the ways in which information is gathered, interpreted and presented and to understand, estimate and use probabilities;
- To explore features of shape and space, and develop measuring skills in a range of contexts.
- To develop their ability to use and apply their mathematical knowledge and understand the importance of mathematical skills in everyday life.
Daily Maths Lessons
Children enjoy a daily lesson of mathematics which will focus on developing a mental mathematical method and then specific mathematical skill or concept .These areas of foci are taken from the New National Curriculum 2014 and are differentiated to meet the individual needs of the pupils.
Information on the National Curriculum programmes of study for each year group can be found here. PRIMARY National Curriculum_-_Mathematics
Children are taught a range of calculation strategies throughout the school .These are linked to the mental methods we use and are designed to promote a smooth progression for pupils to develop a good understanding of efficient methods of calculating using all four rules.