Reading, writing, spelling, phonics and grammar

At Victoria Road we believe, above all, that reading should be a pleasure. All children read, or are read to, every day.

As part of their reading journey, children need to hear high quality books read aloud. Children are taught to read in various ways. For example, small group guided reading with carefully selected texts, individual reading in pairs or with an adult and through a rich literacy environment. Each class has its own book corner and library, and we have a well-stocked and popular school library.

Many of our books are colour banded according to level; these go from the earliest Reception levels to high-end Year 6 books. Children are carefully monitored as they progress through these levels and, in the earlier levels, children may borrow these books to take home.

Until children are able to confidently de-code at any level, they have a daily phonics lesson. These sessions use a scheme devised by us, based Letters and Sounds. The aim is to make this fast, fun and relevant.

We are also lucky to have an ECaR (Every Child a Reader) teacher Mrs Samson who oversees and runs reading interventions such as Reading Recovery and Boosting Reading Potential.

For more information about the Reading Recovery programme please see below.

For more information, please read our phonics and reading policies

For inspiration with reading visit Love Reading for Kids

Bug Club

We are very excited that our online reading scheme Bug Club is up and running!.

Your child has been provided with a reminder of their username, and accounts have been created for any new pupils. In order to access Bug Club online please see the attached documents which provide a step by step guide.

If your child has forgotten their password their class teacher will be able to issue them with a new one.

Bug Club online provides your child with additional reading books that are accessible online, your child's class teacher will provide them with a variety of texts and genres that are available as e-books. They will match your child's reading level and should be read alongside the home readers that are sent home weekly.

Should you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact either myself or your child's class teacher. As always we appreciate any feedback regarding our reading schemes.

Mrs Samson

Pupils from Year R upwards use the  Letters and Sounds phonics. Generally speaking pupils in Year R do phases 1-4, Year 1 phases 3-5 and Year 2 phases 5-6.

This should only be considered a guide as it is dependent on each pupil individually.

Spelling

We support our pupils to become confident spellers by teaching them a range of strategies, rules and conventions systematically and explicitly. By becoming confident spellers, pupils will be able to focus on the skills of composition, sentence structure and precise word choice within their writing. The National Curriculum 2014 details specific high frequency words and word patterns that each year group must cover.

Writing 

At Victoria Road School we have adopted a whole school approach to the teaching of writing. We call it the Writing Journey with the following aims:

1. To increase the number of opportunities for the children to complete extended pieces of writing every term
2. To ensure the children experience their ideas through a practical activity as well as talking before they write. They must ‘live’ their writing first. The writing should be the final part of the journey.
3. To ensure all year groups have a consistent approach to the teaching of writing and all the required elements of the National Curriculum are included.
4. To encourage writing to be cross curricular and more relevant to the children

For more details please have a look at our class pages to see what we cover in each year group.