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Statement of Intent: English

Reading

At Burhill Primary School, we provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities, which will help them to:

• gain a life-long enjoyment of reading and books;
• read accurately, fluently and with understanding;
• apply a knowledge of structured synthetic phonics in order to decode unfamiliar words with increasing accuracy and speed;
• be able to read with expression, clarity and confidence;
• develop a good linguistic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar;
• read and respond to a wide range of different types of texts;
• develop a deeper level of emotional intelligence and empathy;
• read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

At Burhill, we see reading as a gateway into the unknown, allowing our children to experience a wide range of realities and to see the world from differing perspectives. The love of reading is paramount to the success of our children as lifelong learners. Our children learn to read in order to read to learn. Our school is a community of readers with adults and children alike immersed in the pleasure of reading. Opportunities to read for pleasure are embedded across the school, fuelling imagination and fostering a fundamental enjoyment of books. By supporting our children to develop their reading skills, we aim to prepare children for the next stage of their academic journey and to have a love of reading, as well as reading for meaning.

Phonics

Our vision for phonics is that every child will confidently leave KS1 being able to read, underpinning our ethos that everyone can achieve. Phonics is a life skill that will help our young learners feel empowered to be the best that they can be, in order for them to develop their independence and flourish in today’s world. Throughout Early Years and Key Stage 1, children are taught daily, providing them with the skills, strategies and opportunities for them to become confident and resilient readers. Phonics is used as a strategy to support children’s understanding of sound and symbol relationships, in order to recognise words. Following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme of study, our children are guided to move through the different phonic phases, where strong foundations for future learning are built. Our consistent approach enables children to aim high and be ambitious, working towards the ultimate goal of being able to read words with a level of automaticity. When children can read confidently and successfully they are able to use different sources of information to comprehend the message that is being given through print and from this we intend that all of our children at Burhill will begin to read for pleasure.

Please see our Phonics page for more information

Writing

At Burhill Primary School, we provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities, which will help them to:

• write confidently for a range of purposes, ensuring their tone and language are matched appropriately to their audience;
• see themselves as real writers;
• take ownership of their writing;
• acquire the ability to organise, structure and plan their written work;
• develop a rich vocabulary;
• spell words confidently and accurately;
• write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed.

At Burhill, we ensure that children develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills are that they are learning. Reading and phonics are integral to the development of children as writers. We understand that oracy forms the foundations of writing from a young age and our aim is for all children at Burhill to transition from confident speakers to confident writers. Writing provision should be engaging and offer purpose, audience and choice to inspire creativity in all children.  We strive to help our children to develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, with all the skills needed to express themselves clearly in English. Our aim is for all of our children to develop a genuine love of language and the written word through a text-based approach.