Reading

Our RWI Lead is Mrs Brackstone.

Our Early Reading Lead is Mrs Brackstone.

Our KS2 Reading Lead is Mrs Bradley.

Intent

Reading is the ‘golden thread’ woven throughout the curriculum and environment at Caldmore Primary Academy, with the following specific aims:

  • To foster a love of reading within every child
  • To broaden children’s vocabulary and ameliorate the research-based correlation between limited vocabulary and social background
  • To develop fluent, confident readers
  • To ensure all children benefit from inspiring, engaging, high quality texts
  • To enable full curriculum access for every child
  • To equip every child with the skills needed to read for meaning, purpose and pleasure
  • To empower every child by increasing their knowledge and cultural capital
  • To further promote the academy’s unwaveringly high expectations of and for all pupils, embodied in our motto, ‘Aspire, Believe, Achieve’

Implementation

At Caldmore Primary Academy, we follow RWI until we can read all of our sounds with fluency. When we finish RWI, we move into whole-class reading.

Reading is taught using a key fiction text which we follow for a term. We use poetry and a wide range of non-fiction texts to deepen our understanding of the key text. You can see each year group’s current class text on their class page.

Vocabulary is a huge part of reading and key to our lessons. We regularly explore new vocabulary within our text to ensure we can fully understand the meaning behind the text. We explore vocabulary using Word Aware strategies and colourful semantics.

Children are expected to read at home regularly with a minimum of 3 times a week. This is monitored by class teachers.

Writing

Our Writing Lead is Mrs Bradley.

Intent

Our intent is to inspire pupils to become confident, creative and purposeful writers. We aim to develop a love of writing by providing engaging opportunities for children to express their ideas, thoughts and experiences. Through a structured approach, pupils build strong skills in spelling, grammar, punctuation and composition, enabling them to write clearly for a range of purposes and audiences. We support all learners to develop their voice as writers while fostering imagination, independence and pride in their work

Implementation

At Caldmore Primary Academy, we:

  • Deliver engaging, high-quality lessons centered around exceptional texts that inspire and ignite a love for learning.
  • essons blend grammar instruction with the creation of original, meaningful compositions.
  • use Oak National planning to ensure every lesson is structured for success.
  • ensure we cover fiction and non-fiction units which are taught cyclically, ensuring students revisit and refine their writing skills across different genres, fostering growth and development. This progression is carefully mapped across the curriculum continuum (CC).
  • dedicate a crucial 10-minute handwriting session to ensure correct formation and consistent size, supporting students in developing strong, fluid writing skills.
  • share a Learning Journey, shared with the children, so they are not just passive learners but active participants in their educational adventure.
  • use flashbacks which are thoughtfully woven into lessons, linking back to prior learning, reinforcing concepts, and ensuring deep, lasting understanding.
  • use high-quality texts paired with thought-provoking questioning, stimulating critical thinking and meaningful engagement with the material.
  • use TAFs (Teacher Assessment Framework) which ensure curriculum coverage for each year group.
  • use colourful Semantics which is creatively employed to embed grammatical terms and features, helping children form sentences that are not only grammatically correct but also rich in detail and meaning.
  • use in-the-moment marking to ensure that feedback is immediate and constructive, offering real-time guidance to help students understand why changes are needed, driving progress and reinforcing learning.

Handwriting

Effective teaching of handwriting can only be achieved through modelling. Teachers must demonstrate letter formation and joins regularly and children must practice by carefully copying and repeating .It is important to observe children writing to ensure they are forming letters correctly.

  • Handwriting is taught explicitly, in daily 10 minute sessions as part of our literacy lesson. It is modelled by the teacher then supervised, with in the moment marking given.
  • Where possible, it is linked to phonic and spelling patterns.
  • We have high expectations of handwriting. Children need to repeat work that is not satisfactory.
  • We no longer use pen licenses and give children the choice of what to write with.
  • Teachers model good handwriting at all times, e.g. when writing on the whiteboard and when marking books.

Spelling

  • Children are taught spellings of words directly and discretely using syllables and methods to help the children remember where there may be misconceptions.
  • We use RWI Spelling to introduce spelling patterns and for support, alongside the National Curriculum framework.
  • Children are tested once a week
  • Scores are kept in a spreadsheet by each class, children with less then half marks to have extra intervention time to learn these, children scoring 0/1 to be put on a NESSY intervention.
  • Spelling scores are monitored by Writing Lead.