English

English is a core subject that is taught every day in order to develop children’s language skills and build upon their existing linguistic knowledge.

This is essential to high achievement and we aim to provide every child with the skills and knowledge necessary for success throughout their lives.

Teachers provide carefully planned, creative learning opportunities that address a wide range of speaking and literacy skills.

Reading

"There is more treasure in books than all pirate’s loot on Treasure Island"

Walt Disney

Children are taught the necessary phonetic knowledge using the RWI programme (see separate section).

We aim for all children to be able to read fluently and with confidence by the time they leave Winsor. We intend to encourage all children to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, to gain knowledge across the curriculum and to develop their comprehension skills.

Once the children know their sounds and are able to decode with confidence, they develop their comprehension skills and fluency through focused reading lessons. During these sessions, children are exposed to high-quality texts and are given opportunities to explore more complex themes, learn new vocabulary and make real-life connections. This style of reading instruction is very well-received by the children and is improving their ability to critically analyse various texts and answer higher-order thinking questions.

Winsor is passionate about instilling a life-long love of reading in all students. We provide children with many opportunities to read throughout the school day and children read at home in order to encourage further development. Children are expected to read at home for at least 10 minutes per day (ideally with an adult) and keep a record of this in their home-reading diaries. They also have access to Bug Club, an online reading programme that is especially beneficial to families with English as an additional language (EAL), as children can choose to listen to the text out loud. In addition to this, we are very excited about our beautiful school library; each class has a weekly library slot so children can regularly choose new books to sign out and enjoy. 

At Winsor we value reading as a key life skill and a key driver for our curriculum, we integrate reading into our topic lessons.

Writing

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”  

Albus Dumbledore (J. K. Rowling)

At Winsor, we have high expectations for children’s writing.

aim is to develop successful, confident writers. Our writing curriculum is designed to develop strong communication skills that are vital for success in everyday life. Each year group follows a carefully planned curriculum that exposes pupils to a variety of genres through the use of high-quality texts and other stimuli. The writing opportunities are relevant and are carefully planned to inspire all children to produce their best work.  We intend for children to gain a strong command of the written and spoken word along with an understanding of the difference between colloquial and formal speech and grammatical structures.  There is an emphasis on the process of writing: plan/ gather information, draft, review and improve. Through a strong focus on vocabulary and a variety of writing genres, we aim to produce confident writers with the technical skills that they need to succeed in further education and/or future employment.  In addition, a number of pieces are published throughout the year and children are encouraged to think about the audience and purpose of each work they create. 

Winsor teachers give focused feedback daily so that children are always aware of how to improve their writing. Children are taught how to review their work and how to make corrections and improvements, which allows them to develop their independent writing skills and take responsibility for their own learning. 

Presentation is also important at Winsor. Children are taught using the Nelson Handwriting Scheme starting from Reception. Neat, legible work is encouraged at all times in all subject areas as a way to ensure that all work is done to the highest possible standard.

Below are links to the writing overviews for Y1-Y6.

Y1 Writing Overview            Y2 Writing Overview              Y3 Writing Overview

Y4 Writing Overview            Y5 Writing Overview              Y6 Writing Overview