This page contains information about how English is taught and events to promote reading and writing at our school. We hope you find it informative and useful.
English Subject Leader - Mrs Eve
Reading Lead - Miss Neill
Phonics and Early Literacy Lead - Mrs Evans
NEXT EVENT:
Poetry and stories shared in classes linked to Remembrance.
The children will also mark the date with a special assembly.
Below is the PPT from the English information evening.
Here are some links to websites offering advice for appropriate books to read for pleasure at home:
https://www.booksfortopics.com
https://www.thereaderteacher.com
https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk
Reading at Newton
At Newton we believe that reading is an essential life skill and we are committed to enabling our children to become lifelong readers. At the heart of our school is our drive to foster a love of reading, enriching children’s learning through well planned teaching activities that utilise imaginative stories and thought-provoking texts. We carefully plan how we can ensure that our children learn through books across our curriculum also to gain knowledge through reading.
We show our children how wonderful and rewarding reading can be in lots of different ways! Whether it is through our wide selection of reading material at school, our well stocked whole school and classroom libraries, our reward scheme or our links with authors through our termly Newton Reads newsletter - we are always striving to show our children that reading is fun and the centre of our whole curriculum.
Reading Stars Awards
In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, we promote reading through regular whole class reading, reading assemblies weekly and special 'Star Reader' days when we visit the local library and get cosy in our PJs to read! Each week a child from each class wins the Reading Award medal for their hard work and enthusiasm with reading. We are also introducing Bedtime Book Boxes this year and Secret Readers!
Years 3 - 6 take part in our Reading Stars scheme. This promotes regular reading at whatever stage the children are at in their reading journey. The children work towards bronze, silver, gold and platinum awards. Gold and platinum winner receive special prizes and trips out. This year we will be introducing 'Chill Out and Read' bags for the children to take home.
Mrs Eve promotes reading through assemblies and class awards too as well as telling the children all about the latest releases and the Summer Reading Challenge run by the local libraries.
All this, tied in with a whole school library (run by our Y6 Librarians), good classroom libraries, lots of great books to read throughout the school and a regular Book Fair, we feel that we...
Love reading at Newton!
Below is a picture of all of our Platinum Award winners ready for their trip to Liverpool.
Please find below our latest 'Newton Reads' newsletter.
The following documents outline how reading skills are developed at our school.
Speaking and Listening at Newton
Speaking with knowledge and confidence and listening with focus are essential skills when learning. We promote these skills in lots of ways here at Newton and take advantages of opportunities for our children to have a purpose to these skills. We have a successful School Council, Sports Council and Arts Council. Drama is very important to us here at Newton too and we have a successful KS1 Christmas production and our upper KS2 Drama Club performance are something we are very proud of.
We love to hear from our pupils and build in many opportunities within the curriculum in which to do so. Presentations of work are encouraged through topic based projects, meetings with different classes and year groups is common where the children share their work and ideas and we seek the children's thought and opinions across the school when discussing dinner choices, playground improvements and links with our community. Our children feel that they have a real voice at our school and we ensure that the skills are taught well and that there is a purpose for these skills.
The following documents outline how speaking & listening skills are developed at our school.
Writing at Newton
Writing is an important skill for life and at Newton we like to make sure that our children see the value and fun in writing by giving their writing purpose and linking it to lots of areas of their curriculum. The children are always visiting different classes to share their writing with other children and teachers and love to see it on display too.
We follow 'Pathways to Write' guidance and enjoy fantastic books to enthuse our children about writing!
The next event to promote writing will be our Artsmark Event in March. We use books, experiences and draw on lots of inspriration from the Arts to develop and produce some excellent writing with the children. Here are some of the books we have used in the past to inspire writing through the Arts.
We always like to keep the upcoming book a secret! The results of these events have always been fantastic. The children really see a purpose to their writing and love to see it on display next to the beautiful artwork produced. Keep an eye on the newsletters to find out what we have planned for 2024!
Useful website links
The National Curriculum: National curriculum in England: primary curriculum - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
BBC Learning: Primary Homework Help | Online Games For Kids - BBC Bitesize
Spelling/English games: Spelling and Grammar, English Games for 7-11 Years - Topmarks
Spelling Frame:SpellingFrame
Oak National Academy: Oak National Academy (thenational.academy)
OFSTED: Ofsted - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)