English
Update October 2021
The Teaching of Reading
Phonics
Prince of Wales uses a programme called Read Write Inc for the delivery of daily, synthetic phonic lessons. Children are taught sounds in small groups and take home Book Bag Books to practise and consolidate the sounds that they have learnt and to help build fluency.
Daily Guided Reading
The implementation of a new whole class teaching approach in daily guided reading has enabled each child to have teacher guidance on the development of their comprehension skills. Class teachers teach reading though the practice and modelling of key skills in the reading content domains, with greater emphasis placed on vocabulary, retrieval and inference. Opportunities for greater depth in reading are provided as children deepen their understanding of the quality texts and comprehension skills. Our school model incorporates a visual at the start of the week in order to aid EAL learners.
Accelerated Reading
Pupils from Year 2 upwards take home books from Accelerated Reading scheme. After taking a Star Reading Test they are given an accelerated reader level from which they must choose their books. Pupils take weekly quizzes, once they have read the book, which tests their comprehension. This encourages them to read for meaning and enjoyment. Scores are recorded and help the child and teacher to monitor progress. Pupils gradually extend their range of reading as they progress.
Libraries
All of the children have access to two well stocked libraries and take a book out each week. The library includes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, dual language books and non-reference material such as newspapers and journals.
All pupils visit the school library at least once a week to choose a book to read for pleasure, this is in addition to their Book Bag Book or Accelerated Reader book.
There are also planned visits to the two local libraries in Ordnance Road and at the Enfield Island Village.
All of the children are encouraged to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge held every summer .
Power of Reading
The school successfully continues to use The Power of Reading Project to engage children in the English curriculum through using high quality books in depth.
2021- 2022 These books are read within the English lessons, to provide meaningful contexts and purposes for writing.
| Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term | |
| Year 1 | How to Find Gold
Handa’s Surprise The Gruffalo Anna Hibiscus Grace and Family |
Lila and the Secret Rain
Traction Man Toys In space |
The Jolly Postman
Ten Things I can Do To Change My World Out and About -A First Book of Poems The Bee Who Spoke |
| Year 2 | The Colour Monster
The Great Fire of London I Want My Hat Back A Walk In London The Lonely Beast The Memory Tree
|
The Storm Whale
Look Up Astro Girl The Storm Whale The Emperor’s Penguin The Secret Sky Garden The Seeds of Friendship
|
Where The Forest Meets The Sea Gregory Cool Tree Seasons Come And Go Wild Where The Wild Things Are
|
| Year 3 | The Lion Inside
Fly Eagle Fly Stone Age Boy Tunnel The Lost Happy Endings
|
The Dolphin Boy The River Egyptian Cinderella Moon Man
|
Into The Forest
The Window The Village That Vanished LOB A Nest Full Of Stars
|
| Year 4 | The King Who Banned The Dark
Odysseus Varjak Paw The Willow Pattern |
The Queen Of Darkness
Father One Plastic Bag |
Walter Tull And Other Stories
Fox The Fox And The Star |
| Year 5 | Floella Benjamin Coming to England.
The Green Ship The Great Kapok Tree The Vanishing Rain Forest |
Floodland
Ice Bear Viking Boy |
Under The Moon And Over The Sea
Katherine Johnson – A Life Story The Highway Man
|
| Year 6 | Way Home
Macbeth Divers Daughter
|
Corey’s Rock
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter Ice Trap The Dam |
The Lady of Shallot
The Missing The Journey |
Vocabulary Day 2021
Words! Word! Words! Have a look at how we celebrated learning new vocabulary across the school.
World Book Day 2021
Although we were at home for some of last year, we still managed to celebrate World Book Day in many different ways. We shared books on live links, wrote book recommendations, created story maps, made story boxes and some of us dressed up as our favourite book characters.
Extra curricular events
Parent Reading Cafes are held on a regular basis. Children and parents enjoy reading books together, asking and answering questions about stories. Strategies are shared that help and encourage home reading.
Each café usually incorporates a creative, fun activity which links in with the story.
The children also enjoy the termly Book Swaps.
Reading widely and often increases children’s vocabulary and feeds their imagination whilst also opening up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.
Our aim at school is to ensure all children are able to read fluently and with confidence so that they are prepared well for their next stage of education.
Speaking
Spoken Language at Prince of Wales School
There is a planned and progressive programme in place to develop children’s language development across the whole curriculum-cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and range of language that children hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing. All staff in the school continually model Standard English. The model of the mode continuum is used to support children in using the correct register of speech depending on the context in which language will be used.
Children should be able to retell stories from the time they begin school. They should develop an ability to explain their understanding of books and other reading and prepare their ideas, with the support of the teacher, before they write. They need support in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others. They should also be taught the conventions for discussion and debate.
Drama opportunities are planned every term and provide a range of opportunities for the children to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles e.g. through hot seating, role play, conscience alley.
For children whose first language is not English, these children are supported in their acquisition of English using the step levels. They are also be encouraged to maintain and develop their home language alongside English so that the process of conceptual development can continue.
Writing 
Writing focuses on transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing).
Children learn how to plan, draft, re-draft and edit their writing to publish a final version.
Writing down ideas fluently requires effective transcription. The children need to know the relationship between sounds and letters(phonics), understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure)of words.
Effective composition involves forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and the organising them coherently for the reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and context, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. Writing also depends on fluent and legible handwriting.
Handwriting
The Nelson style of handwriting is taught.
Initially the children begin to form letters individually and understand which letters belong to which handwriting families. During year 2 they will start to add strokes needed to join letters and by the end of year 4 all children will be expected to join their handwriting. Once they have shown that they can produce good handwriting they will be awarded with a pen licence.
Nelson style handwriting practice document
Vocabulary
Our school recognises the importance of children learning and using new vocabulary , all our lessons allow opportunities for this.
The links below offer practical vocabulary activities to try at home . Scroll to the section titled Conversations and vocabulary games to try at home.
