English

Here at Pointers we ‘teach’ reading, following the guidance of NLS and incorporate the 'best parts of the Literacy Hour'.

Furthermore, we use the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme and the Jolly Phonics and New Way Reading Schemes, together with their accompanying workbooks. Pointers School uses the ‘synthetic phonics’ approach and has found this is most effective in introducing not only the ability to read but also a love of reading. These emphasise the all-important element of comprehension. We place a very high priority on each child learning to read fluently and confidently. Your child will therefore begin in the Nursery to learn the basis fundamentals including phonic analysis, and from the age of five a reading test will be administered annually. This enables us to read a wide range of good literature.

We love to emphasise creative writing, poetry, descriptive writing, diary writing and writing just for fun. However, we do not lose sight of the importance of good grammar, punctuation, spelling, presentation and handwriting. We consider the development of a good handwriting style very important and therefore use the Nelson Handwriting scheme throughout the school.

Children are taught to understand the links between reading and writing and that all writing is meant to be read.

It is taught using a mixture of whole class and group teaching, with the emphasis on the individual’s needs. Each child within Key Stage 1 and lower Key Stage 2 is heard to read on an individual basis daily. We use Nelson English throughout the school.