Northlands Wood Primary Academy

Northlands Wood
Primary Academy

Select Language

Literacy

We would like a child at Northlands Wood to leave our school and be able to:

  • read independently, fluently and with good understanding at word, sentence and text level
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • appreciate the rich histories of literature
  • secure a wide vocabulary and an understanding of grammar
  • write and speak clearly and purposefully, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion and debate in order to extend their thinking and learning
  • use speaking and listening skills to explain clearly their understanding and ideas to others

The teaching of literacy at Northlands Wood Academy is based on the Programmes of Study, as set out in the 2014 National Curriculum. We teach literacy daily, and opportunities to apply and develop these skills are interwoven throughout a creative and varied curriculum.

We carefully select rich texts to support our topics, providing focus and inspiration for teaching and learning. As a class we read together to provide a range of writing and discussion, as well as developing and securing a wide vocabulary.

At Northlands Wood we have a strong emphasis on orally rehearsing what they are going to write. We use ‘Talk for Writing’ throughout the school, which is an engaging framework based on how children learn. Rather than teaching the children lots of different ‘genres’ or ‘text types’ we focus on what those types have in common. We use 4 main types of writing across KS1 and KS2: writing to entertain; to inform; to persuade; and to discuss.

Year 1 and 2 (KS1) – Writing to entertain (story, description, poetry)

Writing to inform (recount, letter, and instruction)

Year 3 and 4 - (Lower KS2) - Writing to entertain (narrative, description and poetry)

Writing to inform (explanation, recount, biography, newspaper)

Writing to persuade (advert, letter and poster)

Year 5 and 6 – (Upper KS2) - Writing to entertain (narrative, description and poetry)

Writing to inform (explanation, recount, biography, newspaper)

Writing to persuade (advertising, speech and campaign)

Writing to discuss (argument, newspaper and review)

Reading

From Reception to KS1 we use Guided Reading to support our children. As we move into KS2 we adapt a whole class read approach.