English
Curriculum Intent
The School recognises the integrity of English as a subject as well as it being an essential
component of all curriculum areas. We endeavour to provide every child with a wealth of experiences to develop the ability to communicate effectively in speech and writing and to listen with understanding. Reading, in its many forms, is positively promoted through an extensive selection of books and other resource materials, in order to enable children to be enthusiastic, responsive and knowledgeable readers.
Curriculum Implementation
The following documents outline texts covered and writing opportunities linked to those texts in each Year group.
Reception Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 1 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 2 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 3 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 4 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 5 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Year 6 Reading and Writing Curriculum Overview
Reading
Reading at DPS Parent Presentation September 2022
Early Reading and Phonics
Essential Letters and Sounds
At Dorridge our chosen phonics programme is Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS). The aim of ELS is ‘Getting all children to read well, quickly’. It teaches children to read by identifying the phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (the written version of the sound) within words and using these to read words.
Please click below for more information.
Reading in KS2: Years 3-6
Reading is essential for all of our children to help them become independent life long learners. The stages of the Oxford Reading Tree books are carefully designed to be progressive and, when in KS2, reading is for meaning - not just decoding the text. Parental discussion is essential to deepen the understanding of the texts.
As children enter Year 3, they will continue with their reading record from Key Stage 1. Each child has an individual record for each stage of the reading program and teachers will progress the children through the reading scheme stages as their comprehension skills develop. Children are expected to be more independent in changing their books when completed. Parents can encourage this and also record their reading in their Home School Organiser, which is monitored in school. Oxford Reading Tree books up to Stage 12 are stored in the Year 3 corridor.
After completion of Stage 12, and as they progress through school, children choose their reading books from the reading scheme boxes in the KS2 library. For these stages, daily reading plus parent signature is still recorded in their organiser and monitored by teachers.
In addition, children are encouraged to choose additional books for pleasure. This ensures that children read a breadth of text types and genres. All reading should be recorded in their organiser, so that we too can celebrate their reading record with them.
Our Year 6 librarians, adult volunteers or staff are always happy to recommend new authors to children if they need a change or a challenge!
We welcome in school any parents/grandparents who would like to help with reading both listening and discussing with individuals or small groups. Please let your child’s teacher know if you can give some of your time to help.
Reading & Writing at home
We encourage all children to read aloud to an adult and to share books at home regularly. Regular writing practise at home is also encouraged. These documents have been written to provide top tips for home support.
Developing Your Child's Reading at Home
Developing your Child's Writing at home
You may find it interesting to listen to 
Michael Rosen's YouTube tips for reading bedtime stories. Please note that this is a link to YouTube. We take online safety seriously and would not expect children to use YouTube unsupervised.
Spelling
Our chosen spelling programme is Essential Spelling (ES). The scheme supports the children’s development of their spelling knowledge and linguistic confidence to enable the children to become spellers for life, rather than remember spellings for a week. Throughout each teaching sequence of a spelling rule, pupils are encouraged to articulate their learning. Explaining what they have learned about the patterns and processes of spelling, enables children to secure their understanding. Similarly, words, patterns and processes are revisited regularly. This spaced recall enables knowledge to move from short-term memory to long-term memory - and stick.
Tips for helping your child to spell
- Shut their eyes and try to picture the word in their head
- Repeat the words several times over
- Write out the word a few times
- See if the word reminds them of any others which they can spell
- Compare their version with the correct spelling and, if theirs is wrong, concentrate on the bit they got wrong
- If you and they haven’t got access to the correct spelling, write your version down and see if it looks right
- If the word is familiar but spelled in an unusual way (for example, with a silent letter) try deliberately mispronouncing it in accordance with the way it is spelled to get used to the spelling. An example of this is the word "Wednesday".
Handwriting
We use the Penpals Handwriting Scheme in school to introduce the children to forming their letters correctly. It is very important that children are using the correct formation of letters all the time as it can become very difficult for a child to change their formation once they have formed a style.
Please click for more information on our handwriting scheme. 
Recommended websites
The following websites are recommended for supporting children in all areas of English. Please note that, as these are external sites, it is possible that they may change or disappear without warning!
Love Reading for Kids - recommended reads, good for finding new authors
ICTgames.com - some useful games for English and Maths, including some phonics and spelling activities
CrickWeb literacy - sections for Early Years and KS1..
Storynory - please encourage your children to listen to such stories at home.