English

At Saighton C.E. Primary School, we believe that literacy and communication are key life skills and that it is our role, through the English curriculum, to help children develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively with the world at large, through spoken and written language. Through a love of reading that is embedded within our school, we strive to help children to enjoy and appreciate literature and its rich variety.

As a school, we aim to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping children with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading both across the curriculum and at home. The new National Curriculum, which came into effect in September 2014, is being implemented across the school.

Developing Confident Young Writers
At Saighton our approach to writing encourages the children to develop a love of writing and the necessary skills needed to develop into a confident and independent writer.

Where appropriate, the children’s writing outcomes link to the theme the children are studying over the term

We ensure the children are clear as to the reason for their writing. This means we ensure the children understand the purpose for their writing, such as an audience they might be writing for.

Developing Confident Readers
At Saighton, we aim to foster a love of reading in all children and encourage them to read a wide range of books from various authors. Reading is embedded in all areas of the curriculum. Reading skills are taught as soon as children join us in  Eaton Class  and continue until they leave the school.

The younger children are grouped and taught  Letters and Sounds  each day. This is a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics and continues as long as the child requires it. For most children this will end in Year 2. Some children may need this to continue into the following year.

As the children move through the school, they are taught a variety of skills to support their reading confidence. This includes such strategies as using the pictures to look for clues, reading with expression, predicting what might happen, retrieving information from the page to answer comprehension questions. More  higher order reading skills  are taught too, including developing the children’s ability to infer and deduce meaning from the text.

School subscribes to an online reading scheme,"Bug Club", in addition to using a large variety of real reading books.The children have up to two hard copy reading books which they can choose from carefully colour banded selections. They have the choice to read their books digitally using the online "Bug Club" scheme which is very popular and often pursuades reluctant readers to have a go..
Children progress through stages of learning until the children become more independent readers. When this happens we have a selection of books to enable the transition, from colour book banded books to more independent chapter books, to be smooth.
Children learn best when home and school work closely together. Please click on the link for ways to support hearing your child read at home.

Excellence at Saighton
Published Work for Cathedral Competition Winner
Libbie was delighted to be announced as the winner of a Chester Cathedral Competition in association with the 'Cathedral at Height Experience'. Her story was awarded the top prize and has now been published. Her spooky short story can purchased from the Chester Cathedral shop. Congratulations.

Here are the photos of Libbie receiving the wonderful news at Chester Cathedral.

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