Essential Characteristics of writers
- The ability to write fluently and with interesting detail on a number of topics throughout the curriculum.
- A vivid imagination which makes readers engage with and enjoy their writing.
- A highly developed vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description.
- Well-organised and structured writing, which includes a variety of sentence structures.
- Excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented and punctuated, spelled correctly and neat.
- A love of writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values.
Essential Characteristics of readers
- Excellent phonic knowledge and skills.
- Fluency and accuracy in reading across a wide range of contexts throughout the curriculum.
- Knowledge of an extensive and rich vocabulary.
- An excellent comprehension of texts.
- The motivation to read for both study and for pleasure.
- Extensive knowledge through having read a rich and varied range of texts.
Essential Characteristics of excellent communicators
- An exceptional talent for listening attentively so as to understand what is being said.
- A rich and varied vocabulary that gives clarity and interest to conversations.
- Clear speech that can be easily understood by a range of audiences.
- An excellent grasp of the rules used in English conversation, such as tenses and the grammatical structure of sentences.
- A highly developed ability to tell stories that capture the interest and imagination of the audience.
- A delight in initiating and joining in conversations.
- Respect for others when communicating, even when views differ.
©Chris Quigley Education Ltd
The Year 6 Literacy Challenge Team enjoying their moment after placing 2nd! Well done all!
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The Year 6 Literacy Challenge Team posing with their 2nd place certificate
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Learning to Read and Reading for Pleasure
Teaching children to read and write independently, as quickly as possible, is one of the core purposes of a primary school. These key skills not only hold the keys to the rest of the curriculum but also have a huge impact on children’s self-esteem and future life chances. Please see our school document below for further information.
World Book Day 2018
The images below are from our recent World Book Day. Children and staff alike made a real effort to dress up as a wide variety of book characters. We had lots of fun undertaking a variety of activities. Below are a few comments and thoughts from children:
Reception Class say;
- I enjoyed making my longboat head, because I cam dressed as Viking trader. (Noah Hirst)
- I enjoyed that we were able to wear different clothes for World Book Day (Issy Harris Wright)
- I liked seeing everybody's costumes.
Year 4 say;
- I enjoyed advertising a book because I enjoy advertising things.
- I like the teachers' pirate song before school and when we had to walk the plank (Jonathan Richmond)
- I enjoyed listening to some of my teachers favourite books (Imogen Butler-Burd)
Year 5 say;
- I really enjoyed the Harry Potter game, naming the different characters (Samuel Caroe)
- I liked the teachers singing (Humairah Uddin)
- I liked the parade most because we got to see everybody's amazing costumes (Daniel Ward)
- It was really fun, I loved reading in front of the whole school (Rafa Wilkinson)
We use learning walls to support our English learning in class. These change regularly to support the different types of writing that we look at.
Phone box writing
A slightly unusual part of our English work in school is writing for the phone box. After winning the BT "Adopt a Kiosk" national competition way back in 2009, the school was given responsibility for the disused phone box in the village of Great Shelford. As part of our English work in school, each class in turn writes short imaginary conversations for the phone box based on the work they are doing in class. One child's writing is then published in the Village News. They also get the chance to decorate our long-serving mannequin in a way that is linked to their writing! This has proved to be great fun for the school and the villagers.
Below are some previous examples of phone box characters.
Baboushka
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Guy Fawkes
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An Egyptian mummy!
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A superhero
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The First Christmas
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Year 3 - Meghan Markle
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Pupil Voice
Please see our thoughts and comments about English lessons in school.
I like it when we have the choice to work on a story and use my imagination. (Year 2)
I enjoy big pieces of writing because they get my brain working again after a relaxing weekend. (Year 3)
Mrs Mitchell makes our lessons fun with great ideas. (Year 4)
Grammar Hammer is my favourite because I enjoy tests. (Year 5)
I enjoy the range of activities we have in English lessons. (Year 6)
Mr Cuff and Mrs Jenkin recently discussed writing with a collection of children from across the school. Please see their comments below:
My favourite piece of writing was the book I wrote about my family (Year 2)
Alexander is a good writer because he had Star Writer for his handwriting. (Year 3)
I like writing about tigers because they are my favourite animal (Year 3)
I prefer to write independently because I can enjoy concentrating on my ideas (Year 5)
Daniel is a good writer because he puts in a lot of effort and uses interesting vocabulary (Year 6)