At Saltaire Primary School, we want our children to develop a love of reading and feel confident in their writing and proud of the finished product. We want them to learn how to think deeply, creatively and abstractly to discuss and improve ideas collaboratively.
Every teacher at Saltaire Primary School promotes excellence in writing and spoken language, and all teachers consistently maintain high expectations of all pupils.
We aim to cultivate a love of reading in all our children and want them to always be able to find a book they are fascinated by and can totally absorb themselves in. Children read for pleasure frequently and enjoy recommending books that they have read to each other, as well as exploring new titles.
We take a rigorous approach to teaching children to read through phonics using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme. This ensures that the vast majority of children have the skills required by the end of Key Stage 1 to be able to read words fluently, so they are able to develop a deeper understanding of the texts they are reading. Alongside this, reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge is prioritised (initially through Little Wandle’s Reading Fluency programme) so that children are able to be automatic readers, ready to explore more complex themes as they move through school.
When writing, we want our pupils to understand each step of the writing process – from planning, drafting and editing, through to publishing for real audiences and purposes. We understand that learning to write is a complex process and so ensure children develop fluency in handwriting and spelling from their youngest years, so that they are able to concentrate more effectively on developing their ideas for writing for a variety of reasons.
Children’s learning across the curriculum is supported through the use of a structured approach to spoken language alongside Voice 21. We provide children with strategies which help them to say out loud the things they may want to write down and help children to interact with each other so they can develop their ideas to use in their written work.
Teachers at Saltaire Primary School inspire children’s curiosity and imagination through engaging contexts and carefully selected whole-class texts designed to capture children’s imagination. Our teachers offer a range of tools to pupils to support their individual needs. These resources may include word mats, pencil grips, paragraph plans, dictionaries, video clips, iPads, computer technology and much more.
Mrs Helen Noble
Assistant Headteacher - English and Later Phase
Mrs Nancy Austwick
Assistant Headteacher - Early Reading and Early Phase