At Butterstile, we aim to provide a literacy-rich curriculum that is broad and balanced and meets the needs of all of the children in our community.
Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening are all key parts of learning and are an integral part of what we do at Butterstile.
Reading
At Butterstile, we aim to encourage a love for reading.
- Every classroom has its own class library and has an author of the term.
- We have dedicated spaces for Reading throughout school.
- In class, children begin their Reading journey with daily Phonics lessons, using the Rocket Phonics systematic synthetic phonics scheme.
- Children then continue to develop their Reading skills through sharing texts in regular class reading sessions.
- Teachers regular read to the children to share stories and other texts for enjoyment.
Reading environments around school
For further information on how you can support your child's reading please use the links below.
Reading Links
Butterstile Reading Newsletter - Summer 2023
Rocket Phonics - a guide for parents
Word Reading - Sound mats and Common Exception Words
Comprehension - Reading comprehension prompts for supporting home reading.
Writing
At Butterstile we aim to encourage and motivate children to write for a purpose, from basic mark making up to producing sophisticated texts.
We aim to:
- Encourage children to become confident and creative writers
- Equip them with the basic skills they need to become lifelong learners
- Develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life
- Write for a purpose
- Provide enhanced opportunities and experiences within writing for disadvantaged children to broaden their horizons, raise aspirations and enable all to access the curriculum fully
- Encourage the children to see themselves as real writers
- Support the children in organising and planning their written work
Speaking & Listening
At Butterstile, the development of and understanding of spoken language is given high priority. These foundations will enable children to become confident and fluent readers, as well as becoming creative and expressive writers. These skills will allow children to develop in all areas of the curriculum.
Butterstile has the expertise of a fully qualified speech and language therapist, 2 days a week, to work with children and to support staff to enable them to develop a vocabulary rich environment that enables all learners to thrive.
Our speech and language therapist:
- Assesses all children in Reception and Nursery and any other child across school upon request from staff.
- Supports staff in setting up interventions for any groups of children or individuals requiring specific support.
- Refers any child requiring specific in-depth support to the NHS speech and language service.
- Supports staff across school in developing vocabulary rich learning environments and activities to support vocabulary development.
- Provides training for staff across school.
