Intent

Walkergate Community School motto is ‘together we make a difference’.

Walkergate’s curriculum is personalised to always reflect the needs and diversity of our current school community.  From Pre-Nursery to Year Six, we sequence knowledge and skills to build connections for children through a range of learning experiences.  We value all subjects equally, supporting children to develop skills that can be transferred between school, home, their community and the ever-changing world in which we all live. 

Principles of the NEAT Curriculum

The NEAT curriculum is rooted with the child but has an eye to the future

• Includes real life experiences
• Provides opportunities to broaden horizons
• Is influenced by the child and their interests/passions/ needs/ skills
• Will include a hook to engage students with the context, knowledge, topics to be covered and an outcome wherever possible
• Is relevant
• Provides quality links to later life skills
• Goes beyond the National Curriculum
• Provides opportunities to broaden horizons

Characteristics of a NEAT learner:

• Resilient
• Respectful
• Resourceful
• Effective communicator
• Aspirational
• Creative

Phonics Programme and Reading Schemes in Early Years and KS1

At Walkergate Community School we use ‘Read, Write Inc.’ for the teaching and learning of phonics. This is a structured approach that takes children through their phonics learning from teaching children sets of sounds and the letters that represent them, how to form the letters and then blend them to read words. The books that children read in school contain the sounds they’ve already learned, so children learn quickly and confidently.

First your child will learn to read:

• Set 1 Speed Sounds (sounds written with one letter): m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x and sounds written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’): sh th ch qu ng nk ck
• Words containing these sounds, by sound-blending, e.g. m–a–t mat, c–a–t cat, g–o–t got, f–i–sh fish, s–p–o–t spot, b–e–s–t best, s–p–l–a–sh splash
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Sound Blending Books

Whilst they are practising reading stories with words made up of Set 1 Speed Sounds, your child will also learn to read:

• Set 2 Speed Sounds: ay ee igh ow oo oo ar or air ir ou oy
• Words containing these sounds
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks.

Whilst they are practising reading stories with words made up of Set 1 and Set 2 Speed Sounds, your child will also learn to read:

• Set 3 Speed Sounds: ea oi a–e i–e o–e u–e aw are ur er ow ai oa er ire ear ure
• Words containing these sounds
• At school, they will read Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks.

You can find a useful phonics audio guide to all these sounds on the Read, Write, Inc Phonics made easy page.

 oxfordowl.co.uk

Phonics screening guide for parents

At the end of Year 1, all children have to undertake the Year 1 Phonics Screening. Working 1:1 with their teacher, children will read 40 words, some of which are real and some of which are pseudo words (nonsense/’alien’ words) containing the 40+ phonemes they have learnt throughout Early Years and Year 1. Children will receive a mark and parents will be notified at the end of the year if this meets the expected standard. Those children who do not will receive extra phonics support in Year 2 and will take the screening at the end of the following year.

Workshops

We offer workshops and training for parents to understand how they can help their child at home with their phonics and reading. These take place on both of our school sites. Please look out for dates in the newsletters or on separate letters for these events.