St Bartholomew's CE Primary School

At St Bartholomew’s, the ability to read is at the centre of all learning ensuring all our children grow up with a love of reading and the skill to learn from text. Starting in our Nursery, we follow with fidelity, a Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme called Little Wandle Letters and Sounds. This programme has been carefully selected in collaboration with the DfE’s English Hub, with whom we work closely, to give our children the best chance to ‘crack the code’ of reading.

We match books to the sounds that children are learning based on our chosen phonics programme and as children develop fluency we then balance this with providing them with books they enjoy reading to foster a life-long love of reading for pleasure. Our teachers base the curriculum around popular core texts that broaden the children’s experiences and enrich their vocabulary. We ensure children's reading is matched to their phonics level and we follow consistent systems across the school to manage the assessment of reading, alongside ensuring there are opportunities for the children to refine their skills by reading to adults in school such as Reading Buddies.  Parents also play a pivotal role and regular communication alongside accessible E-books, workshops and guidance help to forge a collaborative approach to develop reading in all of our pupils.

All staff receive regular training on the teaching of phonics and reading in order that they can support children regardless of the stage of each child. ‘Rapid Reading’ is a programme that we use to accelerate the reading development of children in danger of falling behind their peers and staff use ‘Cracking Comprehension’ to support children with this important study skill. The Renaissance ‘Accelerated Reader Programme’ is used in Key Stage 2 to develop monitor reading practice and progress, which helps to guide pupils to books that are individualised to learning. Children pick either a physical book that falls within their ability level or choose to read from the recommended digital library.  Pupils must complete an online multiple-choice test after they have read a book; questions are carefully scaffolded to assess understanding at their grade level.  Passing the quiz is an indication that the child has understood what has been read. If they are reading at the recommended level for them, then most children are likely to be successful and enjoy the books and quizzes. Best of all they learn and grow at their own pace whilst also being stretched.

After careful strategic planning and consideration, St Bartholomew’s has adopted ‘The Write Stuff’ as our writing programme from Reception through to Year 6.  Having seen fantastic progress when piloted with pupils in Key Stage 2, we have decided to start the learning journey in Reception adapting resource materials as appropriate to match the needs of our children.

Key benefits of The Write Stuff include:
Pupils understand how to apply sentence scaffolds to their independent writing as they develop their expertise.
Standards improve because many worked examples are provided over the year that extend understanding through a wide range of genres and non-fiction text types.
Children have a clear view of what high quality writing looks like and their learning is structured clearly and misconceptions dealt with. 
Pupils know how to improve their writing and make it more focussed, and actionable feedback is provided to guide their learning. 
Children have a concept of how to build, plan and complete a piece of writing due to narrative maps and non-fiction shapes. 
Teachers have clear pathways of how to guide pupils in weak areas such as cohesion and paragraphs.

At St Bartholomew’s Primary we have been on a progressive journey with our maths curriculum over the last 5 years. We have developed a supportive yet challenging style of maths planning that allows children to take control of their own learning and tailor it to their needs. We have adopted a ‘Teaching for Mastery’ approach across KS1 and KS2, supported by ‘White Rose Maths’, focusing on the use of ‘episodic’ teaching to develop more independent learners and a deeper understanding of key maths concepts.

Getting out of the classroom (‘Active Maths’) facilitates authentic or experiential learning - the engagement of learners with the world as they actually experience it. This gives better access to the main pathways to learning: Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic as pupils not only experience mathematics in concrete and novel settings, but can be liberated from the sometimes-restrictive expectations of the classroom. Learning mathematics outside the classroom is at the core of empowering an individual’s understanding of the subject.

As a result, we can expect to find the following benefits:

• higher levels of motivation
• almost limitless resources
• an opportunity to see maths as cross-curricular
• greater curiosity leading to more effective exploration
• creative ideas driving investigations
• meaningful application of problem-solving strategies and thinking skills
• a heightened sense of purpose and relevance
• the all-important bridge between theory and reality
• greater independence and an improved attitude to learning
• greater enjoyment and achievement
• a realisation that our environment offers opportunities for learning and enjoyment