When we talk about literacy at Whitegate End we talk about writing, reading and phonics so lets have a look at each one in turn so you know what happens across school.

Writing

At Whitegate End we show the children there is a real purpose for their writing. We have a clear process for writing to ensure the children are building, using and reviewing their skills.  We start each piece of writing looking at our RAFT (Reason, Audience, Features and Tone). Teachers ensure there is a 'hook' for the children's writing to fully engage them in their learning. Our writing process ensures the children have opportunities to share high quality texts to gather ideas for their writing. We call these WAGOLLS - what a good one looks like. Following this the children will focus on two skills linked to their knowledge of grammar. One will be a recap of a previously taught skill and the second will be new learning. The children then have opportunity to apply these skills in a shorter piece of writing. The children then build their knowledge by improving a WABOLL (what as bad one looks like). At this point the children will be ready to plan their piece of writing using all their learning so far. Teachers will explicitly model writing through a shared write before the children draft and edit their work.  

To make sure we cover all the genres of writing we have worked as a staff team to map this across the school from Year 1 to Year 6. This means we can build on key writing skills from each year group. We respond to the interests of the children and the writing genres may change to include world events. Have a look below at the key documents section to see the writing process and the overview of writing genres at Whitegate End.  

Reading 

We know that reading is learning and our aim is promote the love of reading to all our children. Each class has dedicated time to share a class book. This can be linked to the children's interests or topic.  We are extremely proud of our library area where the children are encouraged to curl up and enjoy a book. From EYFS to Year 6 we ensure the children have lots of opportunities to read and encourage parents to spend some quality time reading with their children. 

Reading in EYFS and KS1

In EYFS and across Key Stage 1 we follow the Little Wandle reading programme. The children are able to work with adults in small reading groups and access decodable texts linked to their current understanding of phonics. The sessions are based on the fundamental reading skills of decoding, prosody and comprehension. These are valuable building blocks for early reading. 

Reading in KS2

In KS2 we follow a structured approach to reading which leads on from the skills developed in KS2. We have on strong emphasis on developing the children's fluency as we feel this is key to building confidence and reading ability. Each year group has a 'diet' of reading sessions such as fluency sessions, extended reading and closed reading. Research shows this varied diet allows children to develop a range of skills linked to reading development and confidence. We know this is a fundamental life skill. 

Phonics

In EYFS and Key Stage One all the children take part in a daily phonics session.

School uses the Little Wandle phonics programme and has full fidelity to this approach. It follows a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children in EYFS and Key Stage One. We monitor children carefully to ensure this approach works for them and should this not be the case we will use other schemes such as SNIP and precision teaching to further develop pupils early reading and phonics acquisition.  

Spelling in KS2 

In KS2 we follow the Transforming the Teaching of Spelling scheme. The spellings are all in line with the National Curriculum and also help to stretch the children’s vocabulary.  Spellings are certainly tricky and the English language contains well over a million words and has been affected by some 1,300 years of history. As the National Curriculum reminds us, “Most people read words more accurately than they spell them.” With this in mind, we follow a clear and systematic view for teaching spellings that will provide our children with life-long strategies. Spellings need to be taught logically to see the magic of words, the patterns and how words can help transform their quality of writing.  The underlying structure of the approach is based on the three zones of spelling, explored through patterns, remembering and recall of spellings.