Learning English
At Foxes Piece School we recognise that English is a core subject within the National Curriculum. A central concern of all our teaching is to develop high standards of literacy, to equip children to communicate effectively to enable them to become independent learners. We also recognise the importance English plays in the social, emotional and imaginative development of pupils as they use language to make meaning of the complexity of human experience and communicate with the world at large.
Learning Reading
Foxes Piece School is passionate about reading at school and we have a clear, consistent, whole school approach. We have teachers who have a passion for reading themselves and work hard to instil a love of reading and books with all our children. Pupils’ reading skills accelerate at our school because of the good teaching of linking phonics, daily guided reading and the carefully targeted use of interventions with those who require additional support to accelerate their reading. In our school, every teacher reads aloud to their class every day.
We teach reading through phonic lessons, whole class and group guided reading, individual reading and comprehension studies. We follow the Twinkl Phonics - a synthetic phonics programme. We are proud of the range of diverse books within our reading spine throughout the school so children (in Year 6 for example) could one day be reading a classic such as 'Peter Pan' and then move to a more contemporary book such as 'High Rise Mystery' whose themes are crime, mystery, diversity and friendship.
Our School Reading Scheme
Children still accessing reading through phonics use decodable books appropriate to their level phonic skills and knowledge. The school has designed a bespoke reading scheme that is based on colour bands as outlined by the Institute of Education. There is a large assortment of texts to ensure pupils' reading is rich, varied and enjoyable. When children start to come 'free readers' (reaching the top of the reading scheme) we celebrate this and continue to encourage them to read a diverse range of books. This has been proven to extend their vocabulary and increase their passion for reading.
Phonic Policy is currently being updated.
