Literacy
Literacy is at the heart of our curriculum, laying the foundations for future learning, communication and wellbeing. Through stories, songs, rhymes, conversations and mark-making opportunities, we nurture a lifelong love of language and books. By developing strong literacy skills from an early age, children build the confidence to express themselves, understand others, develop empathy and become successful learners.
Reading
Our children are introduced to a wide range of high-quality books from a range of cultures and genres. They learn about the world around them alongside imaginary worlds. Our children engage in a range of discussions, role-plays, songs, and rhymes and begin to develop comprehension skills. They learn the structure of books by understanding that stories have a beginning, middle and end. They learn that we read from left to right and top to bottom.
Structured Stories
Every three weeks each key group look at a story in depth. They learn key words, they listen to the story, they discuss the characters, create a story map so they can retell it. When they are really confident, they begin innovating the story.
Parents/carers can find the weekly words, the story and then see the story map through the Newsletter.
Phonics
Our children take part in weekly Phase 1 phonics sessions. Through active and engaging activities, they learn to listen carefully to sounds in the environment, distinguish between different sounds, and begin to identify and segment sounds in words. These early listening and sound discrimination skills help build strong foundations for future reading and prepare children for the phonics learning they will encounter in Reception.
Supportive Environment
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We provide a range of books both in school and that can be borrowed.
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We provide rich resources that supplement story telling.
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We offer a range mark-making resources both indoor and out.
Writing
Children need regular opportunities to develop fine motor muscles. We provide daily ‘busy finger’ sessions that are carefully designed to strengthen these muscles. Developing fine motor control is for holding and controlling writing tools at a later point. Our children are given ample opportunity to experiment with mark-making using thick pens, chalk and paintbrushes alongside more traditional tools such as pencils and pens.
Family Involvement
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Our family book shed provides reading materials for the whole family to borrow.
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Story sacks can be borrowed to provide enriched reading experiences.
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Busy finger packs can be borrowed to support fine motor development at home.
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Across the year every child will be gifted high quality books for their home library
Our Curriculum
Literacy is a fundamental part of children's learning and development. Through books, stories, conversations, mark making, and early writing experiences, children develop the skills they need to communicate, understand the world around them, and become confident readers and writers.
These documents have been created to help parents understand how literacy skills develop over time and how these skills are nurtured throughout children's early years. Every child develops at their own pace, but all children benefit from regular opportunities to explore books, listen to stories, engage in meaningful conversations, and experiment with mark making and writing.
The curriculum progression is split across two key areas: Reading and Writing. These visuals provide an accessible overview of this journey, illustrating how children's reading and writing skills develop over time. The visual progression highlights how children learn to enjoy books, listen attentively, recall and retell stories, answer questions about what they have heard, recognise environmental print, and understand that marks and writing communicate meaning.
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