English
Phonics and Reading
At St Benedict's we want children to develop a genuine love of reading. To do that we expose them to a range of texts throughout the year, covering a range of authors and genres. Each classroom has a well-stocked book corner that the children can enjoy. Every child in the school has a reading record. In Key stage 1 and lower KS2 we use them as a record and home-school link and when children become free readers, they use their reading record to review books they have read - there is nothing better than a good book recommendation!
We subscribe to Reading Rocks and each class gets a new book delivered in the post for their class library each term - the children love receiving their post and exploring their new books! One of the favourites in KS1 recently was, 'Old McDonald had a phone' - very funny! Mrs Schofield also shares these books, and others that the children have enjoyed in a termly Reading Assembly. We also send home termly Reading Newsletters where further links to recently published books can be found.
This year we have introduced half termly Library visits to Midsomer Norton where the children explore books, authors and get the opportunity to take a book home.
In shared reading sessions we use a mixture of novels, nonfiction and poetry but we always explore and develop our reading skills using VIPERS
Our school uses Floppy's Phonics published by Oxford University Press as our accredited phonics scheme.
Writing and SPAG
There are many skills needed to be a good writer and we ensure the children are able to develop and build on these skills each year. From early reading and writing right through to our KS2 children who are working on developing the authors voice and style. The children cover a range of genres each year and teachers are skilled in using a range of resources as inspiration (films, novels, real life events etc).