English
Speaking and Listening
At Edgware, we believe that speaking and listening is one of the most important and fundamental skills children can learn. Amost everything we do relies on us being able to communiate effectively. All children need to be able to express themselves clearly in order to articulate their needs, make friends and learn. Speaking and listening is embedded across the curriculum.
We encourage children to develop their speaking and listening through a range of activities:
- taking part in debates and discussions
- sharing what they have learnt with others
- working in pairs and groups
- presenting information
- asking questions
- taking part in circle itme activities
- performing in front of an audience
- expressing their opinion, wants and need
- give explanations, evaluate ideas, negotiate, organise their thinking
Children will be taught standard English. Children who are new to English are encouraged to learn language through the use of forced alternatives, language modelled for them, repetition of key vocabulary, using new language often to apply to new situations, Makaton.
Vocabulary Development
We use the Sounds~Write phonics scheme. It is a quality first phonics programme and is acknowledged by the DfE as meeting all its criteria for an effective phonics teaching programme.
We develop key skills in phonics to support the fluency of reading and writing words. These include opportunities to decode, blend and segment words as well as develop their knowledge of high frequency words.
Whole Class Reading
We believe that children learn to read if they are given exciting texts. We use a variety of reading schemes which allow children to develop a range of strategies when they are reading. Our schemes are linked to the phonics that children are learning. We focus on teaching our children key skills in reading. These include: Vocabulary development, Inference, Prediction, Explaining, Retrieval and summarising. Our children will use a range of strategies to support reading. We work hard to find the right set of books for each child. Books are sent home weekly and are changed regularly. Parents are encouraged to spend time hearing their child reading at home.
Love of Reading
We really encourage a love of reading. Classrooms have inviting book corners and staff and children share books that they enjoy reading. Children are encouraged to read widely and often. We have an annual Book Fair and Book Week where we enthuse children further to develop their love of and interest in reading a wide variety of texts.
Through the Power of Reading, we use high quality texts and creative teaching approaches to engage and motivate children in their literacy learning, to support children to deepen and understand texts and provide them with a meaningful context for writing.
Whilst every effort is made for children to ensure children develop their literacy skills, sometimes they may need some additional support. We provide one to one reading for children who may be new to English or find it more challenging. We also use online support for children to develop their knowledge of comprehension.
We have recently updated our school library to provide children with a lovely space to enjoy books.
If you have any further questions about how to support your child with reading or writing, please come and speak to your child's class teacher.
