In our schools we are powered by stories! Many of our topics are based around key fiction books or particular authors such as Anthony Browne, C.S. Lewis, Ted Hughes, Roald Dahl and Julia Donaldson. We aim to develop a genuine love of reading and writing, creating opportunities for children to read, write, speak, perform and share their ideas.

Reading is part of every child’s day, including a story at the end of each day. Our pupil librarians help to maintain our libraries and recommend books to others, while our weekly ‘Pick of the Pages’ newsletter celebrates great children’s books. We also champion participation in the National Summer Reading Challenge and encourage children to read the ‘100 Best Books’ before leaving in Year 4.

We celebrate reading, writing, poetry and oracy through dedicated Literacy, Writing and Poetry Weeks, visiting authors and poets, the BBC 500 Words competition and our annual participation in Poetry by Heart. We have been particularly proud to have two KS2 finalists perform at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Our ‘Drama into Writing’ approach enables children to act out stories and historical events, helping them develop vocabulary, empathy and confidence before applying this to their writing. We also celebrate excellent writing in assemblies and will be introducing a new WOW Writing Book this year to showcase children’s work to visitors.

In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, children have daily phonics sessions following Unlocking Letters and Sounds (ULS), alongside ULS Reading Stars books. Following the completion of formal phonics in Year 2, children move onto the Big Cat reading scheme. We follow the ULS progression for spelling and support children with additional needs through targeted interventions including Talk Boost, Time to Talk, Write from the Start, Spelling Detectives and ILI.

We follow the ULS handwriting scheme, introducing cursive handwriting and joining in Year 2, with a focus on correct letter formation and size in Reception and Year 1. Parents are supported through phonics information sessions, and each year group has a Literacy Progression Plan linked to our two-year topic rolling programme, detailing the progression of reading, writing and oracy.