We provide a school environment in which every child knows that they are loved and cared for. Our curriculum is designed to enable all children to be a success at some point in their school life. For some, this will be in reading, writing and/or maths, for others it may be PE, music, geography etc. We have designed our curriculum to ensure that every child gets to see someone that looks like them being a success and conversely that children see people that do not look like themselves being successful. It is important to us that the diversity in our curriculum mirrors that of our school and the wider community.

Phonics

Annecy Catholic Primary School was part of a Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund project from October 2018 until March 2020. This programme, in partnership with Ruth Miskin Training, enabled us to deliver high quality professional development training to support the teaching of phonics across our school. Following this programme, we have been able to take what we have learnt from Ruth Miskin training and further adapt it to meet the needs of our children.

Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.

Reading

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

A love of reading is engendered through the key quality texts we choose to support our curriculum. Dedicated time is set aside to allow every child to hear a story being read to them.

We recognise the importance of reading in developing vocabulary and allowing children to access learning across all areas of the curriculum and beyond. We have invested in our new library space - creating a "Reading Tower" and spending thousands of pounds on purchasing high quality texts that represent the diversity of our school community.

Writing

The children write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to say, before spelling the words using the graphemes and ‘tricky’ words they know.

They practise handwriting every day: sitting at a table comfortably, they learn correct letter formation and how to join letters speedily and legibly.

Children’s composition (ideas, vocabulary and grammar) is developed by drawing on their own experiences and talking about the stories they read.

Teachers use planning, resources and ideas from Centre for Literacy in Primary Education to help scaffold their planning and ensure high quality learning happens within the classroom.