We believe literacy is at the heart of all children’s learning and, at Queenswell, we strive for excellence in English achievement. English is central to children’s intellectual, emotional and social development as it enables them to communicate effectively through the spoken and written word. We develop the children’s abilities within a cross–curricular programme of reading, writing and oracy.

At Queenswell, we recognise the importance of language, particularly as we are a multi-cultural school where many children speak English as an additional language. In order to close the vocabulary gap and ensure that our children achieve their full potential, we provide a high-quality, vocabulary-rich environment.  

To ensure that all children benefit from an inclusive learning experience in English, we:

• immerse the children in a vocabulary-rich learning environment.
• model and develop the use of high-quality spoken and written language.
• provide opportunities for children to access a range of high-quality texts of different genres.
• provide opportunities for pupils to demonstrate a developing imagination.
• encourage children to develop and express their own opinions on issues in a safe and nurturing environment, promoting equality.
• reflect the children's diversity in our curriculum whilst opening their eyes to British culture.
• promote and develop a lifelong love of reading and writing through fun and memorable experiences.

  We implement our English curriculum through a range of classroom activities which suit all types of learners. We have separate reading and writing lessons each morning, which are then enhanced in the afternoon with DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) and a whole-class story time at the end of the day. Each class reads TerrificTexts every half-term, to immerse the children in different cultures, time periods and genres; we use these texts to deliver reading comprehension lessons as well as English writing lessons. Children also have handwriting and spelling lessons to develop their transcription skills. 

  Through our English curriculum, children are Happy to Learn and Inspired to Flourish.

Reading at Queenswell

We believe, just as Dr Seuss, that “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn the more places you'll go.”

Our vision for children at Queenswell is for them to develop a love of literature and become fluent readers who love nothing more than to spend quality time with a 'Terric Text'

Reading is at the centre of all our children’s learning and we instil an attitude of ‘reading for pleasure’ from Early Years all the way through to Year 6, including the adults within the school. We are currently  developing our new library and our Reading Corners are much-loved places in classrooms.

Phonics at Queenswell

We use 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds' programme - to teach our children to become fluent readers, a vital foundational skill at the heart of all that we do.  We start teaching phonics in a fun and engaging way in Nursery and follow the Little Wandle programme week by week in Reception and Year 1, with the aim of children passing the national Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1. Phonics teaching continues in Year 2 to ensure that each child becomes a fluent reader, using the Rapid Catch-Up scheme as necessary to ensure that any child who needs additional phonics teaching receives this.  Likewise, any children in KS2 who are not fluent readers yet will receive additional interventions to ensure they catch up as quickly as possible. As a result, our children are able to decode and read texts with a degree of automaticity which allows them to read with comprehension and understanding. Please read our Phonics Policy for more information about the teaching of phonics or click on the link below for advice about supporting your child as they learn. 

Independent Reading

All children are encouraged to read independently, so that they develop a life-long habit of reading for pleasure.

• In Early Years, children read Little Wandle books that are linked to the phonics they are learning in class through the phonics programme. They are also encouraged to choose books from the Reading Corner to develop their independence in reading for pleasure. 
• In Key Stage One, children continue to read books that are linked to phonics (where needed) and move on to early chapter books when appropriate.
• Children in Years 1-6 follow the Reading Road Map programme which covers all genres using high-quality classics and recently released books. From KS2 there are three levels of challenge for all genres.
• Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) is embedded across Key Stage One and Two, instilling the value and importance of independent reading. This happens straight after lunch and is a wonderful moment of calm for the children, when they can lose themselves in the different worlds of their books. 
• Children and parents write comments in their Reading Records daily. This is monitored by staff to ensure that reading is completed at home on a daily basis. 
• We celebrate reading every week in our Celebration Assembly, when children are awarded Reading Road Map certificates for the amount of books they have read.

Useful links:

Little Wandle Phonics Resources for Parents

Spelling Shed