Madron Daniel C of E School

Rise Up Curriculum

English

Maths

Early Years Foundation Stage

Science

Art and Design

Computing

Design Technology

History and Geography

Modern Foreign Languages

Music

Personal, Social and Health Education

Physical Education

Religious Education

'Reading is the Gateway for children that makes all other learning possible'

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." -- Dr. Seuss.

At Madron Daniel, we believe that English is at the heart of our learning and teaching and essential to every area of the curriculum. It is through English that concepts are formed, and we can make sense of the world and our place in it. We value the importance of speaking with confidence, fluency and clarity, creating a reading culture where children and adults can read for pleasure and understanding, and writing with fluency, stamina and for a range of different genres.

Like in most primary schools, the teaching of phonics at Madron Daniel is a priority. Without the foundation of decoding, reading simply doesn’t develop.

However, the goal of reading is to comprehend what we read, so we also have to develop our pupils’ reading fluency. Additionally, reading comprehension strategies offer a further thread to strengthen our pupils’ ability to go on to confidently comprehend what they read.

Phonics and Early Reading

Phonics is the primary aspect of reading and is promoted above all learning to read strategies. At Madron Daniel, we use the Little Wandle scheme to teach phonics.

We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers. Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
Children in Year 1 review Phases 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

Our Reading Impact

• Develop confidence in speaking for a range of purposes to ensure that our children are confident in taking part in conversations within wider society as well as in school.

• Adopt a love of reading and respect books.

• Deliver a variety of opportunities for writing based on quality core texts that offer a mastery approach to understanding vocabulary, genre and grammar.

• Provide children with cross curricular links so they have a purpose for writing.

• Ensure all children are supported in meeting the Early Learning Goals, end of Year expectations and end of Key stage outcomes.

• Assess children’s progress both formatively and summative to ensure they are making the best progress possible

• Plan lessons that are accessible for all children, but also engaging and exciting.