Language

Language lessons encourage the use of oral and listening skills. The mechanics of Language are
covered through the spelling and grammar programme. A variety of literal, inferential, deductive
and evaluative thinking skills are taught through Reading and Comprehension. The Writing
programme focuses on introducing the students to a variety of purposes for writing.

The Language programmes used follow the British National Curriculum guidelines
and are designed for those objectives.

The Nelson Spelling Programme: Years 1 through 6

In this programme, visual and aural memory skills are combined with an understanding of
language structure. In accordance with the National Curriculum, the goals are that the students will
accumulate a bank of word that they can spell correctly and, when checking words, will use their
knowledge of initial and subsequent letters to help them. The programme aims to enable children
to spell with a reasonable degree of confidence so they can concentrate with less distraction on
writing tasks.

The Nelson Grammar Programme: Years 3 through 6

The aim of this programme is to enable students to improve their writing by using the grammar they
have learned to inform the style and accuracy of their work. A thorough knowlegde of grammar is
essential when proofreading; the manipulation of language requires an awareness of its structure.

Reading

Reading in the early years involves the use of a variety of techniques such as shared reading, paired
reading, phonics and individual reading practice. In Year 1 to 3, the New Way Reading scheme is used
to teach and develop reading skills. In Years 3 through 6, wider reading is encouraged by means of
comprehensive reading lists and class literature texts. Books from the Levelled Library are used at all
levels to facilitate discussion, comprehension, vocabulary development, fluency and a range of other
skills. A variety of texts and resources are used to develop skills in comprehension, vocabulary,
grammar and writing.

The individual reading programme is centred around our excellent library which also provides resources
for research. Year 3 to Year 6 students are provided with a ‘Recommended Reading’ list. A variety of
genres and authors, in addition to books of varying difficulty, are listed as suggestions for the students
to try.

Reading Comprehension

A variety of texts, including the New Way Reading scheme, Essential English, Focus on Comprehension
and Key Comprehension are used to teach and evaluate comprehension skills ranging from the literal
recall of events in the texts to the higher level comprehension skills; inference, deduction and evaluation.
Students are taught to read the lines, read between the lines and read beyond the lines through oral
discussion, vocabulary development and sharing opinions.

Writing

The continuous development of writing skills is facilitated through a variety of writing activities. In the
younger years, students may dictate sentences to the teacher who scribes under a picture, class
generated sentences may be written on flip charts that the students can read together and copy. Journal
writing becomes a way of sharing events in their lives, and with the Year 3 recap journal, parents can find
out what their daughters have been doing during the week and write back to them. Structured support is
given as the students move through the Primary Department. Class stories are written paying close attention
to planning, writing and editing. The Essential English text and Focus on Writing text provide the older
students with structured activities to facilitate their writing. The students engage in a variety of writing tasks
including journal or diary entries, letters, invitations, advertisements, descriptive paragraphs and short stories.
Writing activities are cross curricular and will often tie in to project work, science experiments, history and
art projects.

Reading Specialist help for mild learning difficulties is available through the Reading Intervention Programme
but we do not have a programme for those with severe learning disabilities.

For more information on the following, please click on the link:

New Way Reading Scheme
Reading Techniques
Reading Specialist/Intervention Programme
Primary Library