Learning for life, striving for excellence!

Meridian Primary School English

At Meridian Primary School we strive for every child to become fluent, skilled and attentive readers. We aim to develop children’s literacy skills through a composite programme of speaking and listening, reading and writing, which is not just taught specifically but throughout our entire curriculum approach. Content is primarily based on the objectives specified in the Early Years Foundation Stage profile and the English National Curriculum Programme of Study. 

Phonics

From September 2025 we have been using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme to teach phonics and reading in EYFS and KS1. This is a systematic synthetic phonics programme, validated by the Department for Education.  

Reading 

We plan for and ensure all children have opportunities to listen to and respond to a wide range of  traditional and contemporary stories.  All year groups actively engage in different types of reading activities that support and develop reading for pleasure. During the day you may see children participating in one or more of these sessions:

• Whole Class Reading - a whole class text that is used as a model to teach reading and comprehension skills such as vocabulary instruction, prediction, explanation and inference. 
• Reading for Enjoyment - A shared text that the teacher reads to the class usually once a day. 
• One to One or Small group reading - to children who may need additional catch up sessions to support their individual needs. 

Whole class reading sessions take place every day in both key stages. Reading for pleasure is promoted throughout both Key Stages. Every class has a designated time in the library. This is their choice of book. In KS1, this is their chance to choose a 'sharing book' which accompanies their phonics book. All classes have a reading area designed to encourage children to engage with a range of texts.

Writing

Writing is a focus at Meridian and from September 2024, we have adopted the 'Essential Writing' scheme from Herts for Learning which provides a broad and balanced curriculum for writing focused around core, high-quality texts. 

Children are taught a variety of text types (fiction and non-fiction) and are provided with regular opportunities to write their own versions. Some examples are stories, information texts, diary entries, and instructions.

To ensure our children are secure with the basic skills for writing:

• Grammar is taught in a focused lesson each week as well as being embedded in our writing and reading lessons. 
• All classes have a discreet, taught handwriting session every day.
• All classes have a daily phonics or spelling lesson.
• A focused spelling lesson is planned each week to help edit our writing and ensure year group words are used correctly.

The Essential Spellings scheme supports our Meridian writing curriculum Years 1 to Year 6. Children have the experience of the full writing processes, including editing and improving their work. The skills that children are taught underpin all other subjects. They enable children to communicate and express themselves in all areas of their work.

Teachers will always make cross-curricular links wherever appropriate and will plan for pupils to apply the skills, knowledge and understanding that they have acquired during English to other areas of the curriculum.

To celebrate writing achievements, we award children with the Star writer awards in our Celebration Assembly each week.

Handwriting

Handwriting is another important element of writing. We use the Teach handwriting programme and children are taught and encouraged to join up their letters in Year 2 onwards. 

Speaking and Listening

Speaking and listening skills are taught throughout the curriculum and children are taught to become excellent communicators and to actively listen and speak with confidence. Here are some of the strategies that we use:

• We frequently use 'talk partners' in our lessons. This means asking the children to share their ideas with their partner and gives them a chance to use new vocabulary immediately and in a non-threatening way.
• We give children opportunities to orally rehearse what they are going to write using 'talk frames' which helps them to structure their ideas, and provides them with sentence openers and vocabulary related to the topic.
• We incorporate drama activities into our lessons. For example, we might hot-seat a character from a story, asking open-ended questions to get information for our writing.

Helping your child at home

Right from the start, children take books home regularly and it is important for them to read with parents throughout their time in school. We also encourage our older children to read regularly every day to develop better fluency and understanding.