English

Reading at Furzeham Primary and Nursey

Reading is really at the heart of education and underpins every subject as well as providing the life- long skills and pleasure in reading. With our Accelerated Reader program each pupil starts off by taking a quiz on the computer, led by the teacher, to ascertain which book will be appropriate for them. Once your child has finished the book they can quiz themselves on the computer at school before they move on to the next book, this checks their comprehension.

In order for your child to progress quickly, we are giving a dedicated time in class every day for your child to read uninterrupted and we of course ask that they can read at home for at least ten minutes each evening (twenty minutes if they are in Year 5 or 6.) This will be rewarded with certificates and praise in school. If your child is in Key Stage One then they will remain on the colour banded book scheme until they are ready to move on to the accelerated reader scheme.

subject overview

Buddy Reading 

At Furzeham school we like to promote reading for pleasure. We enjoy visiting our buddy class and sharing books together. This may be our own stories which we have written or published books. We enjoy reading to each other and discussing the exciting parts of each story along with our favourite characters. This scheme is used sporadically to support the teaching of further spelling covering specific objectives, spelling patterns and rules linked to the National Curriculum.

Reception and KS1 Phonics & Spelling Scheme

read write inc. booklet 1

read write inc. booklet 2

Handwriting Scheme

Handwriting is a taught skill that develops at different rates for different children. All of the teachers in the school put a priority on teaching handwriting and have high expectations for handwriting across the curriculum. Our school uses Penpals for Handwriting to ensure that:

  • The importance of handwriting is recognised and given appropriate time.
  • The progression of handwriting is consistent across the school.
  • Handwriting is acknowledged to be a whole body activity and emphasis is placed on correct posture and pencil grip for handwriting.
  • Expectations of left-handed children are equal to those of right-handed children, and appropriate advice and resources are available to ensure that they learn to write with a comfortable, straight wrist.
  • Handwriting is linked into grammar, punctuation and spelling in order to practice and contextualise all of the transcriptional and stylistic skills for writing.
  • Children learn to self-assess their own writing and develop understanding and responsibility for improving it.
  • Children learn to write in different styles for different purposes such as print for labelling a diagram, illustrated capitals letters for creating a poster, swift jottings for writing notes, making a ‘best copy’ for presentation and fast, fluent and legible writing across the curriculum.