Key Stage 1 and 2
The children are taught the subjects outlined in the National Curriculum. This document shows the statutory objectives for the knowledge, skills and understanding that we teach at Littleborough Community Primary School from Year 1 to Year 6. We are constantly striving to provide an education for our children which not only ignites their enthusiasm for the world around them but also provides every child with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
We believe that it is important that children develop a wide vocabulary and their ability to use this vocabulary with confidence. In English, we constantly explore and unpick new vocabulary and encourage its use when talking and writing. We make use of knowledge organisers for our Science, History and Geography teaching (these can be found in your year group part of the website). These clearly identify the vocabulary that the children will be meeting in their learning and they help to ensure children know exactly which information is expected to be learned in a particular subject.
English
Our English lessons have a heavy focus on children’s spoken language and develop their reading, writing, grammar, spelling, handwriting and vocabulary. Children develop a love of reading and writing and an understanding of language through carefully chosen texts, in order to develop fluent readers and creative writers.
Writing
We have adopted "The Write Stuff" by Jane Considine to bring clarity to the mechanics of writing. "The Write Stuff" follows a method called "Sentence Stacking" which refers to the fact that sentences are stacked together chronologically and organised to engage children with short, intensive moments of learning that they can then immediately apply to their own writing. An individual lesson is based on a sentence model, broken in to 3 learning chunks. Each learning chunk has three sections:
- Initiate section – a stimulus to capture the children’s imagination and set up a sentence.
- Model section – the teacher close models a sentence that outlines clear writing features and techniques.
- Enable section – the children write their sentence, following the model.
Children are challenged to ‘Deepen the Moment’ which requires them to independently draw upon previously learnt skills and apply them to their writing during that chunk.
"The Write Stuff" uses three essential components to support children in becoming great writer.
The three zones of writing :-
- IDEAS - The FANTASTICs uses a child friendly acronym to represent the nine idea lenses through which children can craft their ideas.
- TOOLS - The GRAMMARISTICS. The grammar rules of our language system and an accessible way to target weaknesses in pupils grammatical and linguistic structures.
- TECHNIQUES - The BOOMTASTICs which helps children capture 10 ways of adding drama and poetic devices to writing in a vivid visual.
Reading
Developing confident readers and a love of reading is very important. Children are given reading books to take home each week, which are at their individual reading level. In Key Stage 1 this will include a labelled phonetically decodable book until they are secure in their phonic knowledge. In both Key Stage 1 and 2, it is expected that children’s reading records are signed as proof of reading at home. We will continue to promote our Battle of Books competition for every year group. Each Key Stage has a set number of different book genre challenges to complete…the winner gets to choose a new book from our reading vending machine.
In both key stages the children take part in a daily structured reading lessons. In Key Stage 1 this is through either group guided reading sessions with a colour banded book pitched at their level, or as part of a Whole Class Session using a whole class text. Key Stage 2 follow a reading sequence based around Reading and Modelled Practise (RAMP). During lessons we study a range of fiction and non - fiction books, including The Iron Man in Year 3 and The Explorer in Year 5. Children also have the opportunity to explore poetry each term. Reading lessons concentrate on building the children’s ability to read with fluency and intonation, and their ability to answer a range of comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
Phonics
Phonics forms the building blocks of reading and writing and equips children with the skills needed to become independent readers and writers. In Phonics, children are taught the sounds and how to match them to letters and decode the words in order to read them. This is an essential skill for them to read unfamiliar words by themselves and begin to read independently. They are also taught how to read and spell a number of ‘harder to read and spell words’. Children in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 follow the Essential Letters and Sounds accredited phonics programme. Phonics is taught daily in Reception and Key Stage 1 and is applied through reading sessions.
Phonics in Nursery
Phonics session in Nursery will support the children’s listening ability, focusing on phase 1 phonics and discriminating between sounds.
Phonics in Reception
In Reception, the children are taught the Phase 2 sounds and their corresponding letters. The children will learn to orally blend words, blend the letters in words in order to read them. For example, c-a-t = cat and they will learn to read simple sentences containing these words. They will also be taught to recognise Phase 3 digraphs (two letters that make a sound, such as sh, ai, ee) and trigraphs (three letters than make the sound such as igh) and read words and sentences containing these. They move into Phase 4 which covers CCVC (e.g. stop), CVCC (e.g. desk) and CCVCC (e.g. drink) words which contain blends. Knowing how to read words by reading blends rather than spate sounds make reading much speedier.
Phonics in Year 1
The children continue their phonics journey into Year 1. They cover new grapheme knowledge linked to Phase 5 and will continue to read books linked to newly taught graphemes. At the end of Year 1, children complete the statutory phonics screening check, which is a simple test made up of 40 real and nonsense (pseudo) words and takes approximately 10 minutes. This assesses phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1. It is designed to give teachers and parents information on how your child is progressing in Phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.
Phonics beyond Year 1
Children in Year 2 continue using the Essential Letters Programme with those children who require further work within their phonic learning. Any children who did not pass the phonics screening check will continue with daily phonics lessons and retake the check at the end of Year 2. Those children ready to move on from phonic move into support for spelling within the curriculum.
Spelling
We have implemented the spelling scheme called “No Nonsense Spelling”. The focus of the programme is on the teaching of spelling, which embraces knowledge of spelling conventions – patterns and rules; but integral to the teaching is the opportunity to promote the learning of spellings, including statutory words, common exceptions and personal spellings.
Mathematics
Power Maths is a UK curriculum mastery programme designed to spark curiosity and excitement and nurture confidence in maths. It is written specifically for UK curriculum classrooms by leading mastery experts from around the world and recommended by the UK’s Department for Education. It is an enriched approach that cleverly combines interactive teaching tools, rich and quality textbooks and practice books. The programme is built around a child‑centred lesson design that models and embeds a growth mindset approach to maths and focuses on helping all children to build a deep understanding of maths concepts. There are half‑termly and end of year tests to reliably track children’s progress against Age Related Expectations.
RE
We follow the Agreed Rochdale syllabus for RE. It is our aim that our children will develop the knowledge and skills to live in a multicultural society and will have the knowledge of the predominant religions in our local area. We also strive to develop the children’s confidence to discuss links and common themes in people’s religious beliefs. We also feel that it is vital that our children have the skills to demonstrate understanding and empathy towards the views of others.
Science
Our lessons are designed to develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding. During the lessons, children are involved in science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them and ensure that the children are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
History and Geography
We teach History and Geography through highly motivating and knowledge rich learning challenges. For example, How can we re-discover the wonders of Ancient Egypt? Year 4 and What makes the Earth so angry? Year 3 are just two of our many learning challenge topics.
The children’s knowledge, skills and vocabulary are developed through practical activities which involve exploring artefacts, creating models to help understand difficult concepts. We ensure that the children know how their learning builds on what they have previously learned and how this learning will be built upon as they progress through the school. Throughout the year, children are immersed in the learning within a rich and effective environment. This includes staff and children 'becoming' people from different times and places, researching costume, culture, beliefs and origins that extends their engagement beyond the classroom.
Computing (ICT and E-Safety)
Our computing and E-Safety schemes of work ensure that our children develop the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to explore new situations and problems, to attempt to find and fix errors and create ways of solving problems. We believe that it is important that our children build an appreciation of the relevance of computing in our society and develop their ability to use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly.
PSHRE
Our children are engaged and inspired to develop their sense of self and the world around them. Through constant and consistent teaching of the key areas, children develop their confidence to be able to discuss difficult subjects and make informed choices about their own health, well-being and relationships.
Physical Education
Our PE curriculum covers Athletics, Games, Dance, Gymnastics and Outdoor Adventure. Pupils in Y3 undertake an intensive block of swimming instruction. We encourage all children to realise their personal best and to fulfil their potential in the academic, sporting and performing opportunities provided in and out of school. These activities are regularly reviewed and the children have various opportunities throughout the year to attend one of our many sports clubs/teams and represent our school in competitions.
Music
We use the Charanga scheme of learning for our music teaching throughout school. This is a well structured programme of learning that builds pupils knowledge, skills and understanding in music, giving them time to study important pieces of music and also to learn how to create music. Our children in Key Stage 2 have the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument and join our well respected school band. The band enter competitions after Christmas and often perform at the Rochdale Town Hall.
Spanish
We deliver fun and engaging activities which develop the children’s ability to express their ideas and thoughts and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. By promoting Spanish teaching at LCPS we are providing the children with the foundation for learning further languages at KS3.
