English

Intent and Implementation of Phonics

At JH Godwin, all children in EYFS and KS1 take part in high quality, daily READ WRITE INC. phonics sessions. These are fun sessions involving lots of speaking, listening and games where the emphasis is on children’s participation. They learn to use their phonic knowledge for reading, writing and independent play. From a very early stage, children develop an awareness of different sounds in spoken language. They develop an understanding that spoken words are made up of different sounds (phonemes) and they learn to match these phonemes to letters (graphemes). Phonics is about children knowing how letters link to sounds (graphemes to phonemes), e.g. c as in ‘cat’, ll as in ‘fell’, ee as in ‘sheep’. Children use this phonics knowledge when they are reading and writing. This system has been shown to be a quicker and more efficient way for children to learn to read the words on a page fluently and accurately. This also helps them greatly with their spelling

For a simple explanation of phonics please watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5O4yvZSOsc

For information on how we teach phonics, with Fred Talk, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q

A secure understanding of synthetic phonics is fundamental in the development of reading. We believe that the teaching of phonics should be adapted to the needs of the learners and encompass physical, musical and game-based learning as well as opportunities to practise and apply. 

We use Read Write Inc for the teaching of phonics and we track the phonics skill rigorously and ensure that reading experiences and books reflect their phonics stage. 

Intent and Implementation of Reading

At J H Godwin, our reading curriculum is designed to give our children the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to read fluently and develop a deep comprehension of what they have read. Our reading curriculum starts with the phonics programme (Read Write Inc.) that develops decoding skills and fluency. To develop the important comprehension skills, that enable children to understand the text we uses Literacy Counts’ Ready Steady Comprehension: https://www.literacycounts.co.uk/ready-steady-comprehension

Literacy Counts won the Teach Primary Award in 2023.

Ready Steady Comprehension is planning support for whole class Shared Reading through carefully crafted units of work and quality texts.  These units of work also help schools to provide curriculum knowledge for foundations subjects.   They empower teachers to teach all aspects of word reading and comprehension through high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts.

Ready Steady Comprehension provides a clear teaching sequence to reading sessions that explicitly teach reading skills and strategies in a cumulative way through evidence-based approaches. These comprehensive units have been constructed so that the entire statutory curriculum for reading is covered.

We build a curriculum that enables all children to continue their learning and their lives unhindered by reading difficulties.  We inspire children to read beyond schooling and aspire to careers where these skills of fluency and comprehension can be utilised fully.

To improve individual reading fluency we use Reading Plus https://www.readingplus.com/resources/for-families/

Reading Plus customizes the pupil’s experience and continually adapts instruction based on your child’s activity. This tailors learning to the individual needs of each child, helping them:

  • Improve their fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and stamina
  • Build vocabulary
  • Increase motivation for reading

Each child in Years 3 to 6 should have a login for their child to use in school and at home if they wish.

DreamBox Reading Plus

This adaptive online reading programme helps pupils to develop the essential fluency skills for proficient and confident reading. Reading Plus is introduced when children have successfully completed the Read Write Inc phonics scheme.

It’s an exciting journey to enhance literacy skills and foster a love for reading among our pupils. Packed with various engaging texts, Reading Plus offers tailored challenges to cater to pupils’ diverse reading abilities. The programme will be used in school and can also be accessed from home via various devices (laptop, computer, tablet).

What is Reading Plus? 

Reading Plus is a research-based online reading development programme that improves pupils’ reading fluency, stamina, and comprehension. 

Used in over 1,400 schools in the UK, Reading Plus is an exciting part of children’s reading journey. 

How does Reading Plus work? 

After completing an initial assessment, Reading Plus places each pupil at their correct reading level on the programme. Pupils can then select texts of different genres and types (fiction, non-fiction, informational) suited to their reading ability. After reading a text, pupils are asked ten comprehension questions. Text selections and questions adapt to reading levels as the pupils progress through the programme. Weekly assignments are set with personalised instructions for pupils, including visual skills development for eye-tracking, reading tasks for comprehension and fluency, and vocabulary tasks. 

Information for parents, carers, and pupils.

Access a range of helpful resources and videos that explain more about Reading Plus and its usage at home. They can be found through the links below, including:

For more information about the programme, please visit www.readingsolutionsuk.com. 

For more information on how we use Reading Plus please ask your child’s class teacher.

Language skills are a critical factor in social disadvantage and so we prioritise closing the gap between the speech, language and communication development of any children who are behind, and their peers. Alongside a very rigorous and sequential approach to developing speaking and listening and vocabulary acquisition, we also provide specialist individual speech and language therapy.

We recognise that being able to read well is vital for a child’s prospects at school and in life. We are determined to teach every child to read regardless of social and economic circumstances, ethnicity, language spoken at home, and special educational needs or disabilities.

We immerse all of our pupils in the wonders of quality, vocabulary-rich texts to instil a love for reading; to inspire and lead into writing in a variety of styles and forms, showing awareness of audience and purpose; and to act as a vehicle for learning across the wider curriculum.  Our ‘Read to Write’ units are carefully planned and structured to ensure that learning is continuous and that all pupils make good progress with the development of their learning. By taking a text-based approach, we give the children the chance to develop culturally, emotionally, socially and spiritually, enabling them to both acquire knowledge and build on what they already know. We foster an interest in words and their meaning to develop our children’s vocabulary in both spoken and written form.

National Curriculum Expectations

“English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.”

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
  • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  • are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Reading at Home

Please encourage your child to read at home and sign their home-school reader book, as this helps them towards their target of 5 reads a week. It is important that you spend time listening to your child read and asking them questions about what they have read. Reading stories to your child provides them with a love of books, an understanding of language and a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Below are some links for a list of recommended books for each year group.

Recommended Reads for Reception (ages 4-5)

Recommended Reads for Year 1 (ages 5-6)

Recommended Reads for Year 2 (ages 6-7)

Recommended Reads for Year 3 (ages 7-8)

Recommended Reads for Year 4 (ages 8-9)

Recommended Reads for Year 5 (ages 9-10)

Recommended Reads for Year 6 (ages 10-11)

Below are some useful documents with QR codes with links to some of the best online story times for children to access freely at home. The story readings are on Youtube and all of the books chosen are read aloud by their fabulous authors and illustrators.





Intent and Implementation of Writing

At J H Godwin, our overarching aim is to equip children with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to communicate fluently and confidently for a range of purposes, and leave school unhindered by reading and writing difficulties. We strive to teach how important reading, writing, speaking and listening skills will be in the real world so that our pupils understand the value of English to them now and in their futures.

We recognise that being able to write well is vital for a child’s prospects at school and in life. We are determined to teach every child to write regardless of social and economic circumstances, ethnicity, language spoken at home, and most special educational needs or disabilities. We recognise how language skills are a critical factor in social disadvantage and prioritise closing the speech, language and communication gap.

We aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word through taking a text-based approach to teaching writing. We use Literacy Counts’ Ready Steady Write , which is comprehensive and evidence-based. It provides a sequenced, ambitious curriculum, that places quality literature at its core. Our units have been carefully mapped out to match the entire statutory curriculum for writing. The books the children read in their shared reading sessions relate to the themes in the writing lesson. This directly enables the children to build up there knowledge of a subject and a bank of rich vocabulary, that they can used in their writing.

More information about Ready, Steady Write can be found here: https://www.literacycounts.co.uk/ready-steady-write

We teach children to write like a reader, enabling them to:

  • think about the impact their writing will have on the reader and how they can achieve this;
  • have a sophisticated bank of vocabulary and techniques to extend details and description;
  • structure and organise writing for different purposes and genres and include a variety of sentence structures;
  • display excellent transcription skills that ensure writing is well presentence, punctuated, spelled correctly and neat;
  • re-read, edit and improve writing to every piece is the best of their ability and better than their last.

To help children retain the word class terminology we use actions.