English concentrates on four key skills that your child needs to get the most out of all their learning at school – speaking, listening, reading and writing.  The children follow the National Curriculum English Programme of Study and are supported by a wide variety of resources, which are matched to their needs. The teaching staff develop the children’s English skills to the highest possible standard, through an exciting and stimulating programme. 

Speaking and listening:

Speaking and Listening skills have often taken second place to reading and writing in recent years however at Penruddock we feel strongly that this balance needs to be changed.  Verbalising is important for cognitive and social development and learning.  A skillful use of words is a pre requisite for good relationships in life and in work.

As English continues to develop its status as the global language for commerce and intercultural communication, individuals will need fluency and increasing accuracy in spoken language. 

Reading:

Reading opens the door to all learning and encourages the development of imagination and creativity.  At Penruddock School we are keen for all our children to develop a love of reading and so expose our pupils to a rich diet of diverse texts through shared reading time, stories and reading for performance. We use reading to help children explore other areas of the curriculum through information text and non fictional writing also and find this invaluable for helping children to broaden their knowledge and understanding of wider subjects.

Writing:

New technologies offer endless possibilities for different forms of writing and the repertoire is expanding.  At Penruddock we embrace new technologies but recognise that an ability to write and communicate your ideas in a form appreciated or understood by others is still fundamental to the future of all learning. Therefore teaching of high quality writing for a variety of purposes remains one of our highest priorities.

Phonics

At Penruddock Primary School, we teach phonics using Floppy's Phonics programme to support learning of synthetic phonics at Key Stage One and Reception. Floppy's Phonics is a multi-sensory programme which makes great use of online resources plus dedicated books to support learning. It features a great many familiar characters such as Floppy, Kipper, Biff and Chip. You can also access the Oxford Reading Tree reading books online at Oxford Owl. Ask the staff for the class login.