Literacy

From the earliest stages, children will be developing their fine motor skills when they pick up writing tools and make marks on paper. We do this by giving children plenty of opportunities to scribble, draw, colour and develop other early writing skills. However, handwriting needs to be taught in a consistent way and it is important for children to develop good habits with writing.

Pupils are supported in various ways:

• Given plenty of opportunities to write for different purposes
• Ensuring they are using the correct pencil grip
• Ensuring they are sitting in the correct position
• Helping them to form the letters correctly and at the correct size
• Supporting them to write sentences

Phonics

Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing of the English language by developing learners’ awareness of the sounds within a word (phonemes). The aim is for children to gain an understanding of the correspondence between the sounds and the different spelling patterns linked with each sound.

Learning to read is one of the most important things your child will learn at our school. We put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. Part of learning to read is having good knowledge of phonics.

How will my child be taught phonics?

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn how to spell. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters.

Reading

Reading at Little Champions is taught through:

• Whole class reading that develops listening skills, a love of stories and reading for pleasure
• Shared reading that immerses children in the pattern of story and features of text types
• Group reading that targets children’s reading skills

Within each subject studied in Little Champions lessons are very much planned around a student’s interests. This makes for a more personalised and individualised curriculum for each student. High adult support ratio within primary means that students can follow their own tailored programme that encompasses support for communication, sensory and behaviour needs within it.