Core Skills

Building Strong Foundations

We prioritise reading in the knowledge that reading is gateway to all learning. 

Staff provide high-quality teaching and rehearsal to enable all pupils to become fluent in word reading, spelling, and handwriting. They secure basic skills in mathematics, including early number, number facts and multiplication facts.

From the outset, we focus on:

• Communication and language development through high quality interactions and language rich environments
• Phonics teaching that is systematic and rigorous
• Early mathematics that builds number sense and fluency
• Physical development supporting fine and gross motor skills
• Personal, social and emotional development as the foundation for learning

Oracy Across the Curriculum

All pupils are explicitly taught how to communicate effectively through spoken language (oracy) so that they can articulate their ideas and engage with others through speaking, listening and communication.

We develop oracy through:

• Structured speaking and listening activities
• Vocabulary development in every lesson
• Opportunities for discussion, debate and presentation
• Modelling of high-quality spoken language
• Valuing every child’s voice and contributions

 

 

Reading

The curriculum prioritises accurate and fluent word reading. Reading attainment is assessed regularly, with gaps tackled quickly and effectively. Our phonics programme is bespoke and follows a systematic synthetic form of teaching.

It teaches children to both blend and segment words and recognise by sight non-decodable words. Children learn to recognise the sound to the letter name, learn how to form the letter through the teaching of rhymes. This means our children develop reading fluency (accuracy and speed) alongside developing their letter formation.

Once children progress through all the phonics groupings, they enter whole class reading.

Our reading curriculum ensures:

• Systematic synthetic phonics from entry
• Reading lessons from Year two to Year six, once fluency is mastered
• Daily reading practice for all children
• Rich, diverse texts that reflect our community and beyond
• Reading for enjoyment embedded across the school
• Targeted intervention for children who need additional support
• Academy-wide commitment to developing vocabulary and comprehension#

We use accelerated reader to support independent reading.



 

Writing: 

Our bespoke writing approach ensures the requisite foundational skills are taught and built upon including vocabulary development. Staff teach through a layered approach from the planning stage to building sentences to producing writing for purpose. Children also engage in writing for enjoyment developing their craft as social, mindful and creative writers.

Our writing curriculum ensures:

• Compositional skills developed through purposeful contexts
• Grammar and spelling taught systematically
• Handwriting taught to develop fluency and legibility
• Writing across the curriculum to consolidate skills

Mathematics: 

The teaching of mathematics secures basic skills in arithmetic, mental and written calculation. Conceptual understanding is taught through a mastery approach with pictorial, concrete and abstract representations to support understanding. Children apply their skills and knowledge to build their reasoning and problem solving skills.

Our maths curriculum ensures:

• Fluency in number and calculation
• Problem-solving and reasoning
• Mathematical vocabulary explicitly taught
• Practical, hands-on experiences to build understanding
• Regular practice to secure long-term retention

Assessment in Core Skills:

We use target cards for writing and maths showing assessment criterion against the National Curriculum Framework. For phonics, we refer to our groupings grid which shows the progression required to move through the programme and into whole class reading.

Curriculum

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