St. John's Primary School
Tel: 020 8445 4693

Time Allocation

In Y2 - Y6 there are four allocated literacy hours a week and one extended literacy session for creative writing. In Y1 there are five allocated literacy hours a week. There are also one and a half to two hours for the provision of the wider English curriculum (eg. drama, stories, ICT, cross curricular links and specific library time). In the Reception Class elements of literacy are covered throughout the day. The document 'Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage' DfEE/QCA is followed.

Planning

Teachers follow the statutory requirements for the National Curriculum for England and detailed guidance on planning and implementing the programmes of study is provided through the NLS Framework.

Balance is provided through the medium term plans, which indicate the word, sentence and text level objectives. Reading and writing objectives are linked to support effective teaching and learning approaches.

Progression is provided across the key stages through the National Literacy Framework objectives and termly range of work.

The short term plans describe teaching and learning activities linked to objectives.

Staff meetings are used to discuss the English curriculum and to ensure consistency of approach, standards and expectations.

Planning is shared with teaching assistants and all other support staff.

Planning is monitored by the head teacher and Literacy Co-ordinator.

Assessment and Recording

Formal summative assessments are carried out at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in accordance with National Curriculum Assessment Requirements.

Children are observed and assessed informally in the Foundation Stage in the form of On Entry to Nursery Baseline Assessment.

Specific assessment tasks are carried out mid-year in Y3, Y4 and Y5 in the form of Optional SATs and NFER tests.

All children have a portfolio which contains samples of writing taken throughout each year.

Records and informal assessment of children's reading are kept in each child's Home School Diary in which parents are asked to comment on a regular basis.

Formative assessment, carried out by each class teacher, is an integral part of the assessment procedure and is used on a daily basis to inform future planning. Teachers annotate their daily plans to assess progress within the class, to record achievements and to highlight areas of concern for the future.

Reporting procedures are in line with DfEE requirements. Parents receive an annual written report and are invited to two parental interviews, (three at Y2 and Y6) throughout the academic year.

Resources

Each classroom has a book area stocked with books from the school library and on loan from the LBB school library service.

Every class room has a tape recorder and the Foundation and KS1 classrooms have a role play area. Each class has its own selection of Big Books and a large range of individual and guided group reading resources. There are further sets of fiction and non-fiction group and individual reading books in the school library.

Resources for SEN are available in the SEN room.

ICT resources for literacy are stored in the ICT suite.

Teacher resources, including NLS materials are stored and easily accessible to all staff in the Reprographic Room.

There is a new library which contains sets of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books and also sets of graded fiction.

We aim to promote literacy by displaying and organising books throughout the school in an attractive and imaginative way.

The main published materials in use at the moment include:

¨ DfEE Progression in Phonics
¨ DfEE Spelling
¨ Oxford Literacy Web
¨ Oxford Reading Tree
¨ Ginn BIG Book Phonics
¨ Discovery World
¨ Heinneman Literacy World
¨ Heinemann Writer's World
¨ Oxford Launch Into Literacy

This document has been compiled through a consensus of opinion of the whole teaching staff and as a result of staff discussion.

Date ratified by Governing Body: …………………..

Review Date ……………………….