English, Reading and Writing

English is taught to all year groups daily. We use Talk for Writing as a key driver to deliver high quality English Sessions. Whole class Reading is taught in all year groups. These sessions range from short burst sessions to lengthy sessions depending upon year group. The main texts used are taken from the Fred’s Teaching programme of whole class reading focus and progression. Phonics is taught daily in Early Years and Key Stage one. We use the DFE approved scheme Twinkl Phonics to deliver high quality consistent phonic lessons to all to teach vital early reading skills. Twinkl Phonics is also adopted throughout our whole school Phonics teaching interventions and is used throughout KS2 alongside focussed assessments to address gaps in knowledge.

Understanding how language works enables learners to engage with the world around them and have greater control over their own communication and interactions. At Hodnet, we aim to equip our learners with the skills required to use English confidently throughout their school journey, as well as into their lives beyond.
Our curriculum – delivered by passionate teachers – allows children to become enthusiastic writers and motivates them to achieve their true potential in all aspects of school life. Through being taught how to command language properly, our pupils can learn to communicate their emotions effectively, and develop themselves culturally and socially.
At Hodnet we want our pupils to learn how to aim high, love literature, and be fully equipped with life-long transferable skills.

Praise indeed for Hodnet Primary Schools’ Phonics and Early Reading teaching.

Hot off the press! Hodnet named in top 1% of schools in January 2024

Damian Hinds, MP, Minister for Schools, acknowledges our commitment and success in Phonics and Early Reading.

We have been recognised as being in the top 1% of all schools nationally. All of the current Y2 children achieved the expected standard in the phonics screener when they were in Y1. This is an excellent achievement and we feel very proud to receive this recognition. The highly skilled and dedicated staff and amazingly hardworking children should all feel proud of this achievement. We have also been praised by senior leaders at Shropshire Council and at The 3-18 Education Trust for this achievement.

Phonics Curriculum intent

At Hodnet Primary School we are passionate about ensuring that all of our children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers with a love for books by the end of Key Stage One. We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to become fluent readers and writers. Through daily, systematic and consistent high quality phonics teaching, children learn to segment words to support their spelling ability and blend sounds to read words. To allow our children to develop a strong phonic awareness and effective blending and decoding skills, we have chosen to use the synthetic phonics programme ‘Twinkl Phonics’. A consistent and structured approach from Early Years, through Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2 for those who require it supports children to progress and gain the skills necessary to achieve these aims.
We strongly believe that teaching children to read and write independently is one of the core purposes of a primary school, enabling them to access a broad and exciting curriculum and ensuring they flourish as learners throughout their time at our school. These fundamental skills not only hold the keys to the rest of the curriculum but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and future life chances.
Twinkl Phonics and Rhino Readers website link – www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/twinkl-phonics

Reading curriculum intent

Reading skills are a crucial part of life, both in school and in the wider world. These skills assist learners to understand the wider curriculum, and develop their own communication skills. Reading enables children to access learning and provides them with the independence needed to seek and enquire.
Through reading, learners have the opportunity to immerse themselves in new cultures, concepts and worlds, diversifying their worldview. At Hodnet, we want our children to leave school fully equipped with the skills necessary to achieve their dreams, and reach for the stars. We encourage a love of reading – opening their imaginations and broadening their minds.

Reading enables children to access learning and to immerse themselves in new cultures, concepts and worlds. In addition to our phonics teaching, we know that children a need to be taught a range of skills in order to be successful readers. As such, we incorporate reading skills lessons as part of our reading curriculum, focussing on vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension skills. Texts are chosen with the aim of challenging children to read with fluency and understanding and to generate discussion.

KS1 pupils have a weekly reading skills lesson in addition to their daily phonics teaching. High quality picture books are used to expose children to a wide variety texts and authors. Children are then taught to read model texts based upon the original book and complete a range of activities to develop their comprehension skills.

KS2 pupils take part in reading lessons at least three times a week. Texts are chosen from the Fred’s Teaching and cover a wide range of genres and authors. Children are taught to read extracts from the book they are studying. They then complete a range of activities to develop their comprehension skills.
Website link – www.fredsteaching.com

Writing Curriculum

At Hodnet we use Talk for Writing, an engaging approach to the teaching of writing used from Reception through to Year 6. The key feature of this approach is that children internalise the language structures needed for writing through orally rehearsing and reciting a model text. This enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version. Each unit of work follows the same cycle of teaching and is based on a fiction or non-fiction text type which has a core model text for the children to learn. Once children have learnt this model text, they are taught to write their own version (innovate the text) before they independently write the text type.
Website link – www.talk4writing.com

Supporting Documents:

English policy 2022-25

Phonics and Early Reading Policy 2022 -2025

Reading Vision statement

English vision statement

Phonics Vision Statement

BooksForTopicsReceptionList

BooksForTopicsYear1List

BooksForTopicsYear2List

BooksForTopicsYear3List

BooksForTopicsYear4List

BooksForTopicsYear5List