English Lead – Mrs Rebecca Dawson

At Lever House we thoroughly believe reading and writing are the key to successful learning. Generous time is given to the teaching of English, both as a separate subject and across other curriculum areas. We promote an English rich environment throughout school with corridor displays which showcase our writing and reading areas in all key stages. 

All children participate in a daily lesson where skills are developed and improved through a combination of shared, guided and independent work. Children are encouraged to use them effectively to extend learning across the curriculum.

Phonics and Spelling

At Lever House Primary School, Phonics is taught daily to all children in EYFS & KS1. We follow the Red Rose letters and sounds, synthetic phonics planning programme (Lancashire Professional Development Service). We progress onto ‘Rising Stars Spellings’ scheme of work in close conjunction with ‘Support for Spelling’ (currently moving towards Red Rose Spellings). 

Reading Scheme

Our recently updated reading scheme comprises a range of Oxford Reading Tree and Big Cat Collins, supplemented with free choice reading books to further extend and engage pupils, helping to instil a love for reading. 

Our pupils are encouraged to read as widely as possible. We celebrate ‘Reading’ at Lever House Primary School throughout the year but we also have a dedicated week called ‘Reading Rocks Week’. During this week whole school reading opportunities are planned for in all areas of the curriculum, we enjoy sharing our favourite stories and of course we dress up! Last year the children thoroughly enjoyed guessing the teacher’s favourite books when they were younger and investigating picture books with no words. 

Year of reading

Our Reading Journey at Lever House

We want reading to be more than something children do in English lessons.
We want reading to be part of the culture, identity and enjoyment of our school.

So far this year, we have:

🌳 Reading Assemblies
Every member of staff has shared one of their own favourite books with the children, helping pupils see that reading is for everyone and that adults in school are readers too.

🔎 Non-Fiction November
A family reading challenge encouraging children to discover that reading is not just about stories. Information books, magazines, recipes, instructions, maps and articles can all open doors to new knowledge.

📖 World Book Week
A whole-school celebration of books, authors, stories, characters and the joy of reading together.

🤝 Reading Buddies
Children sharing books and reading experiences with one another, developing confidence, fluency and a sense of reading community.

🏫 Our Library Revamp
We are currently transforming our library into a space that inspires children to browse, discover, recommend and fall in love with books.

👨‍👩‍👧 Working with Families
Parent workshops and further opportunities to support families in developing reading routines and sharing stories at home.

And this is just the beginning…

 

Handwriting - Letterjoin

At Lever House, we recognise that strong handwriting skills provide an important foundation for pupils to become confident and fluent writers. From the very beginning of their education, children are given regular opportunities to develop correct letter formation, pencil control, letter size and spacing, helping to build the muscle memory and automaticity needed for handwriting to become effortless. We use Letter-join to provide a consistent, structured approach across the school, ensuring that pupils develop secure handwriting habits as they progress. By establishing these foundations early, children can focus less on the physical process of writing and more on expressing their ideas, choosing vocabulary and developing their creativity, ultimately becoming fluent and independent writers.

English Enrichments 

World Book Week 

We had a wonderful ‘Book Week’ this year, celebrating our love for reading and books.  Throughout the week we had a competition of ‘Guess the Dressed Door’ running through school where each class dressed their classroom door representing a well known story/book and the other classes had to guess what story it was.  The children also spent the week learning about William Shakespeare, reading one of his stories/plays and used these to create their own pieces of writing.