English

Writing

Writing is an integral part of our curriculum that will enable pupils to write for a variety of purposes and audiences and to communicate effectively. Our writing curriculum is driven by a range of texts from different genres and authors.

Imagination and originality are nurtured through exploration, discussion and drama at the start of the unit. Children follow a journey through a unit of analysing high quality texts, learning and practising core skills and then applying them to a final written outcome.

Spelling

Spelling is taught through explicit teaching in discrete spelling lessons. Children apply rules and knowledge learnt in phonics to spelling and all are taught age-related spelling rules and common exception words.

Handwriting

Transcription is a vital part of our English curriculum. Letter formation and handwriting are taught in discrete sessions following the Little Wandle scheme. Children are encouraged to take pride in their written work across all subjects.

Links
Marlfields English Policy 2025
Marlfields Handwriting Policy 2025
Marlfields Spelling Policy 2025
Marlfields English Unit Pathway
Marlfields Writing Progression
Writing Lesson flow chart

Reading

“The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives” – Matilda, by Roald Dahl

Early literacy is the development of young children’s skills in moving from learning to read, to reading to learn; these skills include word recognition and language comprehension – the essential components of reading.

Our reading curriculum allows children to be exposed to high level texts and lessons are pitched to suit the needs of all children in the class. We aim for all children to make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn by the end of KS1. Our reading lessons teach children how to read for fluency, intonation and comprehension. Small group interventions help children to keep up with new learning.

In EYFS and KS1 children are taught discrete phonics lessons following the Little Wandle scheme. At the end of KS1 all children will complete the phonics screening test. For those children who do not complete this scheme, Rapid Catch Up is used in Year 2 to plug gaps.

Reading for pleasure

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney

We love reading at Marlfields! Our school library is forever growing as a treasure trove of books, magazines, audio books and graphic novels. We are passionate about developing children’s love of reading and opening their eyes to new worlds, new people and new experiences through the pages of a book. Classes visit our library weekly and can borrow books to read at home.

Children are encouraged to read frequently at home to not just develop their reading ability but also their love of reading. We want children to discover their favourite genres and authors.

We promote a love of reading through a variety of events such as book fairs, local library visits and links with our librarian community.

We are working hard to build a reading culture at Marlfields with the exciting new addition of our library which is filled with hundreds of amazing books.

Children will be bringing at least one reading book home each week to read. One will be matched to their reading level. A second maybe be one that they have chosen to read from our library and share at home. They may need help reading this.

Y2-6 children have daily guided reading lessons.

We will be reading a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry throughout the year.

Children are celebrated for their reading efforts with Reading Champion Certificates each week for reading 4 times per week at home.

Links
-Marlfields Phonics and Early Reading Policy
-Reading Progression of Skills Document
-Whole School Reading Spine

Phonics

At Marlfields Primary School it is essential that our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background and that it promotes and fosters a life-long love of reading from the very beginning of their school journey.

At Marlfields Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

Download our Parent Information PowerPoint that was shared with all EYFS and Year 1 parents. Or a summary of this information can be found in the electronic version of parent handout.

Little-Wandle-Parent-Information-session

What is phonics?

“Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. They are taught how to recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes and identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make. Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.” DFE ‘Information for Parents’ 2013

Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. They are taught how to:
* Recognise the sounds that individual letters make
* Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make-such as ‘sh’ or ‘oo’
* Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word

Written language can be compared to a code, so knowing the sounds of individual letters and how those letters sound when they’re combined will help children ‘decode’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.

The children are taught to read words by blending, which means pushing all the sounds together to make a word.  The children are taught to spell words by segmenting, which means sounding out words and writing down the sounds they can hear.