English Zone

English at Tidbury Green

Please click on the link below to view our “Intent Statement” for reading and writing at Tidbury Green.

Intent Statement

Reading

'Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.'

Reading is a fundamental part of learning at Tidbury Green. We strongly believe that the ability to read is fundamental to pupils’ learning across the curriculum, their ability to be independent and their future life choices. Our determination to succeed is driven by our mantra - 'Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.'

If you would like to find out more about reading at Tidbury Green, please read our reading policy below.

Reading Policy

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for pleasure matters at Tidbury Green: we read to our children, read with our children and talk to our children about books. From author visits to our daily class reads, we find any excuse we can to engage with books. 

If you want to improve your book chat at home, here's a useful guide from 'The Open University' to help:

There are also these helpful videos from 'The Open University' that model what book chat at home might look like:

 Early Reading and Phonics

 At Tidbury Green we use the 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised' progression to develop our young readers in Reception and Year 1. The 'Foundations for Phonics' are established in Nursery.  To see the phonics progression map that we use, click here.

Here are some videos to support you and your child in recalling the sounds they will be taught in Reception:

Many more videos to support your child with their phonics, including the Phase 5 sounds taught in Year 1, can be found on the Little Wandle website:

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

 You may also find these grapheme information sheets useful to support your child in developing their phonic recall and letter formation:

Little Wandle Phase 2 Grapheme Info Sheet A1

Little Wandle Phase 2 Grapheme Info Sheet A2

Little Wandle Phase3 Grapheme Info Sheet SPR1

Building Fluency - Decodable Practice Book

To develop their reading fluency our children in Reception and Year 1 are assigned a decodable practice book each week by their class teacher. This book is carefully matched to their current reading level and reading of it is practiced over three teacher-led sessions in school. Your child should be able to read this book with confidence.

Alongside their reading practice book, your child will also bring home a 'Sharing Book'. This is a book that they have chosen themselves from the school library. This is a book for you and your child to share, read and enjoy together.   

Reading Vipers – The Literacy Shed

In KS1 and KS2, the development of key comprehension skills in reading is supported by the use of ‘The Literacy Shed’s’ Reading Vipers. By using Reading Vipers, we are able to ensure that the children develop the reading skills required as part of the Content Domains in the National Curriculum. The use of Reading Vipers alongside the daily use of high quality and engaging texts, allows us to embed the foundations of fluent, capable and confident young readers.

Please click on the links below to see how you can support your child with reading.

KS1 VIPERS Question Stems 

KS2 VIPERS Question Stems 

Library

At Tidbury Green, we are very fortunate to have an amazingly vibrant and well-stocked library that offers the children access to a range of fiction and non-fiction books. We encourage the children to select books to read for enjoyment that they can then share with their family.

Please click on the links below to view the recommended reading lists for each year group.

Reception

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Spelling

At Tidbury Green School, we use the ‘Twinkl Spelling’ schemes of work as a pathway to develop competent spellers. This focuses on teaching the children strategies that support them in their spelling of words by identifying patterns, rules and common exceptions. This is particularly useful in helping the children in Years 3 to 6 learn their statutory spellings. The use of phonics is encouraged through the use of the ‘Little Wandle Grapheme Mat' to support children in the spelling of increasingly unfamiliar words.  

Please click on the links below.

Little Wandle Grapheme Mat

Years 3-4 Statutory Spelling list 

Years 5-6 Statutory Spelling list