Fagley Primary School

Subject Rationales

Art at Fagley Primary School

Sketchbooks are used in KS2 to make preliminary drawings and sketch out ideas in preparation for a
more involved piece of art work. They are also occasionally used for observational drawing which may
occur outside of the classroom.
From reception upwards children are encouraged to use a wide range of materials and to consider an
appropriate use of colour when using paint or coloured pencils. A range of coloured paint and pencils
are available to the children but they are taught and encouraged to mix primary colours to make
secondary colours and tertiary colours at KS2.
Our school has been involved with many art projects which are usually an extension of and follow the
current topic that is being studied within the classroom at the time. The art work produced maybe two
dimensional in nature using an appropriate medium such as paints, coloured pencils, collage etc but
could be three dimensional also. Examples include clay Viking ships made by class 3 and cardboard
Viking ships made by class 4 painted with Viking specific colours. A World War Two Spitfire plane was
made by class 5 as well as a large Anderson shelter. This follows the general trend of staff and
children taking pride in researching and making objects which add to and enhance the topic specific
displays within the class room, to create a more enriched learning environment for the children.
Children are often introduced to artists who make a link with their own work such as Lowry when Class
3 made Lowry inspired mills for their Victorian/mills topic made from pastel coloured sugar paper with
details and shading added using pencil, pastels and charcoal. All the children's work was combined to
make one single townscape which was then selected to be displayed at Cartwright Hall in Bradford.
David Hockney provided the inspiration for a large painting based on his painting of Salts Mill by class
3 which was exhibited at Future House in Bradford.
There has been certain times when artwork produced has been more ambitious and technically
challenging due to a larger scale, requiring a complete control of materials to ensure quality and
sturdiness. This was evident in the culmination of work produced by every class in the school for the
purpose of a whole school exhibition based upon a specific book each class was studying. Class 4
produced an amazing giant seat made from newspaper and art straws inspired by Roald Dahl's George's
Marvellous Medicine which was proudly put on show at Future House in Bradford. Class 5 created an
Iron Woman inspired by Ted Hughes's book made from a metal bin, car head lamps, nuts and bolts and
chicken wire displayed in the grounds of the school.
Each and every class was involved in producing a picture of a poppy for Remembrance Day in November
2014. Some classes made observational drawings/paintings from actual poppies we had growing in the
school grounds, whilst reception/nursery made paper poppies that stood up. All the pictures were then
carefully laid side by side row on row taking up most of the school hall, creating a poignant and
dramatic scene.
The most recent artwork to involve the whole school was a carefully considered piece produced for
refugee week by each class from reception up to class 6. The work was based around a specific theme
being common ground/shared dreams and was proudly exhibited at the Kala Sangham community arts
centre in Bradford. Class 2's picture of a dove was selected to be used as a motif on all the
advertising for the event itself.
Often competitions which may be seasonable are entered by each class, such as designing a Christmas
card or Christmas nativity scene for which a pupil from class six was chosen for first prize and a pupil
from class five won second prize. Artwork was selected from several classes to be exhibited at Idle in
connection with Idle Art Studio.

Art coordinator meetings are periodically attended to keep up to date with current local art practice
and to be informed of up and coming exhibitions and competitions.

Computing
At Fagley Primary School our children have access to state of the art digital resources to support
their understanding of information technology, digital literacy and computer science as part of the
Computing curriculum. Children also frequently use technology as cross-curricular tools for learning in
a range of other subject areas. Our children know how to use devices safely and appropriately and
receive regular online safety lessons and instruction, through Computing lessons, PSHCE lessons,
assemblies and through other events that carry a specific online safety theme.
We are proud to deliver weekly Computing lessons to every class from Nursery to Year 6 in our
purpose built Computer Suite which comprises 16 high specification touchscreen Windows desktop
computers as well as a large digital screen for sharing pupils work and for demonstrating activities. By
embedding a culture of high expectations and by delivering lessons to children in groups no larger than
16, children are able to make rapid progress as they develop a range of digital skills and competencies.
We believe it is important for children to have access to a range of digital ecosystems and as such also
provide access to 30 iPads that are shared across our Key Stage One and Key Stage Two classes.
These devices are primarily used by pupils in lessons for the purposes of carrying out internet
research and for creating a range of digital artefacts such as interactive presentations, videos,
animations and simple computer programs.
Children also have access to a portable suite of 16 Windows laptop computers that are accessed
flexibly across the school for a variety of purposes. The number and breadth of devices available in
school that children have the opportunity for one-to-one access to an internet-enabled device
whenever the need arises.
We place great emphasis on children becoming the creators of high quality digital content rather than
just consumers of it, and as such we devise many opportunities for children to understand the true
value of this, whether through inviting children to deliver interactive presentations they have
authored to their classes, through celebrating their successes in our weekly Celebration Assemblies or
in our annual Digital Showcase Event, at which every child in school exhibits an example of their best
digital work in an immersive gallery space in the school hall. We know that these examples create a
culture that values the digital world and shows children its real value in 21 st Century Britain and around
the globe.
Elklan
We initially started Elklan as our school had a high proportion of children with speech and language
difficulties. We wanted school staff to become more aware of the importance of speech, language and
communication for all children. It was an opportunity to give teachers and teaching assistants practical
strategies to make the school more communication friendly.
A big part of Elklan is to consider questioning. We introduced blank questioning to be used in school
especially when dealing with behaviour. Strategies such as mind maps, word wise whizz, multiple
meaning trees, spidergrammes and venn diagrams were introduced to extend childrens vocabulary.

Each classroom was asked to create a visual timetable for the class. We discussed visual routines for
specific children and the benefits of keeping this visual. E.g. task plans, routine cards.

Engaging Families at Fagley Primary School

Engaging Families is an accreditation achieved by Fagley Primary School in July 2013.
The accreditation recognises the quality of work school does with families. It has enabled our school
to: Recognise, celebrate and assure the quality of existing partnerships with families, develop and
improve our work with families and evidence the impact, remove barriers to learning for all family
members and help to support families in developing their childrens achievement and self-esteem.
The assessors report recognised the exceptional work carried out daily at Fagley Primary School.
They reported that family partnership is deeply embedded throughout school.
Parents reported that they always feel very welcome in the school and childrens centre and that their
opinions are listened to and valued. There was good evidence that parents receive as warm reception
when they visit school and the school responds to their opinions and needs.
The award recognised that school provides high quality information to parents and gives outstanding
support to many families including those facing difficult and challenging circumstances.
Engaging families will remain high on the schools proprieties and will invite the assessors for inspection
when the award is due to be reviewed every 3 years.

Food Technology
At Fagley Primary school we believe in providing pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum. We want
children to be successful in all aspect of life in order to be confident, independent, collaborative and
resilient learners. One of the many valuable skills we teach pupils is Food Technology.
At Fagley Primary school we have a state of the art food technology room which allows groups of
children to work with a specialised teacher to not only develop their cookery skills but expand their
use of language, provide them with opportunities to write for a purpose and to help develop their
mathematical skills.
In Food Technology we seek to develop in our pupils a sound understanding about food and the
important role food plays in a healthy lifestyle. We teach the basic practical cookery skills and focus
particularly on Healthy Eating, Safety and Hygiene, Diet and Nutrition. Pupils are encouraged to be
independent learners, creative thinkers and team workers through their food studies

Forest School
Forest School at Fagley Primary aims to engage children with the outdoors fostering a love, respect,
understanding and responsibility for our environment. It promotes the development of social

interaction, emotional intelligence, self-esteem and an independent, intrinsically motivated, selfconfident approach to learning.
Every child in KS1 and KS2 attends weekly Forest School sessions for a term each year. The sessions
are a minimum of two hours long giving children the time to explore, discover, problem solve and enter
a flow state of learning. The Forest School Practitioner is supported by the class Teaching Assistant
enabling class learning to be enriched and consolidated through outdoor experiences. The children
pursue paths of learning that interest and challenge them. They set their own goals and work towards
them at their own pace, reflecting on their progression and deciding on their next steps for learning.
Achievements are acknowledged and celebrated, whilst a culture is fostered in which is accepted that
sometimes things go wrong (and when they do, the group work together to find solutions). Showing
respect for the environment, each other and ourselves is at the heart of the Forest School ethos. The
children learn how to express and vocalise their needs and feelings and demonstrate empathy for one
another. The high adult to child ratio during sessions allows the children to be supported in their
decision making and beneficial risk taking.
Sessions take place in biodiverse ancient woodlands within walking distance from the school. The
children learn to take pride in this local community asset and are encouraged to use it in their leisure
time with their families.
Fagley Primary is an active member of the Bradford Forest School Network, meeting regularly with
Forest School providers in the district to share skills and help to maintain best practice.

Mathematics
At Fagley Primary, we create a maths culture that has fluency, reasoning and problem solving at its
heart. Every child has the opportunity to access problem solving and reasoning activities on a regular
basis and demonstrate mathematical understanding at a deep level by applying their skills and
knowledge to different problems, contexts and subjects. We believe that every child can and will
achieve.
A variety of concrete materials are used across the school to ensure mathematical understanding,
especially when new concepts or methods are introduced. This allows children to develop a depth of
understanding and fluency. More able children are challenged through demonstrating their knowledge
in greater depth while less able children are given the support they need to grasp concepts and
methods. Staff focus on the mathematical understanding, reasoning and fluency while ensuring the
listed content is covered appropriately. This is reflected in the long term plan for each year group,
which also breaks down each objective in to appropriate steps, taking in to consideration gaps in prior
knowledge. Links are also made with other subjects where appropriate and real-life contexts.
Weekly Up for a Challenge lessons ensure methods of problem solving are taught and children are
challenged to reason mathematically by applying their knowledge to a variety of routine and nonroutine problems.
Recall of mathematical facts is a focus, with children having half termly targets which are regularly
visited in class and children given the opportunities to use these facts in a range of problems. Every

fortnight, there is a times table challenge for specific year groups to promote learning times tables
and to celebrate children that can recall facts.
Mosaic
The programme seeks to equip young children with the skills to connect education to work at an early
age through mentors from professional backgrounds acting as role models, and so children girls can
aspire to careers in a range of different sectors. Parents/carers also participate in lessons that raise
their awareness of the importance of education and how to support their children through school and
beyond.
The programme itself is ten weeks long, with a weekly hour-long session where the children cover
themes such as confidence, communication, and role models, whilst the adults look at themes such as
citizenship and understanding the British education system. To complement the sessions, adults and
children are provided with resource booklets which they can refer to throughout the course and
beyond.
Included in the programme is a special university visit to provide exposure to further education.
Hosted by student ambassadors, all participants attend a prominent university to participate in
workshops, a tour of the campus and a presentation on university life.
http://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/mentor/primary-school-programme/
Family Links
Family Links believes every child and parent deserves the best chance in life at home and at school.
The 10 week programme enables parents to become more effective, caring and confident in raising
their children and it helps those children to become more emotionally resilient and socially responsible.
The dynamic approach tackles the root causes of social problems through the Nurturing Programme,
which challenges intergenerational dysfunction.
The national charity provides training to enhance the skills of:
practitioners working with parents individually or in groups
schools, teachers and universities to create emotionally healthy learning environments where
everyone can aspire, flourish and achieve.
https://familylinks.org.uk/sg-cms/pdf_docs/Introducing_Family_Links_Leaflet.pdf

PE
With the introduction of PE funding following the London 2012 Olympic Games PE lessons and sport at
Fagley Primary school now has a renewed sharp focus.
The sports premium along with school funds has this year seen the employment of two sports coaches.
The coaches deliver 2 hours worth of high quality PE lesson to all children across the different year
groups each week.
The sports coaches provide lunchtime sporting activities that the children can choose to engage in
further more providing opportunities to develop their skills and fitness levels.

A small part of the funding is used to promote pupils health and wellbeing including providing help for
those pupils who were overweight or obese. A specialised Fagley Fitness club meets weekly and has
been set up to help tackle childhood obesity. Parents and friends of the school can also attend helping
to build community cohesion.
PE at Fagley has many strengths with a wide selection of afterschool clubs available to all children
free of charge. After school clubs include athletics, basketball, hockey, football, gymnastics, Frisbee
and golf. All children are welcome to attend clubs. Keyworkers encourage disadvantaged children to
attend at least one club weekly. Attendance is monitored by key workers and senior leaders to ensure
all children are engaging in the physical activity provided.
The uptake in extracurricular sporting activities has increased and all clubs run at full capacity. Sports
(UK) Ltd have arranged competitions and festivals, with children attending after school clubs which
work up to these competitions. Some of our children have won awards for both winning and team work.
We have also worked closely with the Hanson Partnership and the Sainsburys School Games and have
also arranged friendlies in Tag Rugby, Rounders and football.
Physical education contributes directly to development and competence and fitness at Fagley Primary
School. It also helps pupils to make informed choices and understand the value of leading as physical
lifestyle. The good physical education we offer has a positive impact on both academic learning and
physical activity patterns of our pupils. We believe that a healthy, physically active pupil is more likely
to be academically motivated, alert and successful in life skills.

What does Phonics look like at Fagley Primary School?

What do we use to inform our teaching?
The Letters and Sounds document is used throughout school to inform the progression and teaching of
the different phases.
What does Phonics look like across the school?
Nursery
In Nursery there is a great emphasis on developing speaking and listening skills individually and in small
or larger groups. Phase 1 phonic activities are included as part of everyday teaching activities and
then introduced more formally in small group sessions. There is a strong focus on developing the
childrens capacity to listen, concentrate and discriminate between sounds and also to prepare children
to enunciate sounds correctly.
Reception
In Reception, Phases 2 and 3 are introduced and taught in discrete sessions. Though initially taught as
a whole class, children are then grouped according to attainment to meet the needs of the children.
The classroom environment reflects the age related expectation. This way, children who need extra
support still have exposure to the full range of phonemes taught.
As well as discrete teaching, children are encouraged to apply their phonic knowledge for a purpose in
the daily provision. This might range from reading captions or environmental print to writing in the
role play area. Writing materials are widely available for the children to use and children can access
books at all times as well as take them home to read.

At the beginning of the school year, parents/carers are invited to a phonics session where they can
see how phonics is taught and the correct pronunciation of sounds is modelled. Activities are provided
to model how to blend and segment sounds to read and spell words and to show how these can be easily
done at home to support childrens learning. Activities are also provided to show how this then
progresses into reading simple captions and sentences. Parents/carers are also made aware of the
expected phonic level for that year group.
All staff in Reception have received phonics training and have an understanding of how phonics should
be taught effectively.
Key Stage 1
Phonics is taught every day in a discreet 20 minute lesson. Children are grouped according to their
phonics attainment and are taught by the teacher and teaching assistants. Planning is provided by the
teacher. Both Year 1 and Year 2 teach the age related phase. This level of phonics is the expectation
and as a link to ensure application, the particular phonemes taught are incorporated into teaching in
other areas of the curriculum so that children can use and apply what they have learnt in phonics
sessions within other subjects.
In addition to learning particular phonemes for the week, there is also an expectation that children will
learn to read and spell the high frequency words. Word boxes have been distributed to each year
group and all children within Key Stage 1 have a word box containing the first 100 high frequency
words. These boxes are checked regularly by both the teacher and teaching assistant to ensure
children learn the words. Known words are then placed into a word book and are revised as
appropriate. Once the first 100 high frequency words can be read, children are then moved onto the
next 200 common words. It is expected that children will learn these words at home and progress
through them at a good pace.
All members of staff within Key Stage 1 have received phonics training.
Key Stage 2
It is recognised that phonics teaching and learning does not finish at the end of Key Stage 1. As
children move into Key Stage 2, they begin the Support for Spelling program. However, children
identified on the phonics tracker that are still working on the phases as outlined in the Letters and
Sounds document, are provided with a tailored catch up and revision program alongside the age related
expectation for the year group. Key word boxes are also provided and checked regularly for these
children.
Religious Education
Each year group covers specific religions and themes throughout the year, in order to broaden their
knowledge of the six major faiths. Visits to places of worship or visitors into school are arranged to
embed learning and foster a deeper understanding. Pre and post learning sheets are used at the
beginning and end of RE lessons, each term, so the children can see their progression. Each half term
we have a family faith day to celebrate a festival from one of the faiths. Each festival has been
carefully selected to promote equality and diversity and also works alongside our outstanding learning
behaviours. During the faith days, children (from each class) are put into their house groups where
they work alongside any family members they have in school. Parents and carers are invited to come
into school and take part in the celebration and achievement with their children, and can learn to
respect each others cultures and differences together.

As a school we promote British values in a number of different ways. We have an annual school carol
concert in the local church, Reception children hold a nativity play and we have a whole school
Christmas dinner that parents and carers are invited to. For Harvest, we collect donations of tinned
and dried food for the Bradford Food Bank. Some children have previously taken part in the Believe in
Bradford conference, where they have participated in activities around identity, values, commitments
and beliefs. The conference encourages children to learn from each other and share their experiences
in order to promote community cohesion, through an understanding of shared human values, and also
promote childrens Social Moral Spiritual and Cultural development.
The positive culture we promote throughout the school is empathised through activities such as; Stand
Up Speak Out and Make a Difference. This involves the children training to become ambassadors for
either the Anne Frank or Kokeshi exhibition. This training encourages and improves self-confidence
and awareness in challenges faced by others from past to present. The skills they learn help to
prepare them for the next stage in their education.

SOCIAL MORAL SPIRITUAL CULTURAL

As a school we take pride in having SMSC in the heart of everything throughout our school. We
understand the importance of the children being aware of and excepting the diversity of Britain and
the world around them. This is promoted by using a range of life issues as assembly focuses each week,
such as; safeguarding Week, Remembrance Day, Fairtrade Day and Friendship Month.
Each year we have a focus on raising awareness of a variety of different charities. Children contribute
in lessons such as; cooking and forest schools, to help with fundraising. This year we are holding a
McMillan Coffee Morning (parents are invited), Farm Africa-Welly Walk, Children in Need and Comic
Relief.
We support childrens understanding of how to keep themselves safe from relevant risks by ongoing ESafety lessons and safety questions of the week. We also have a focus on Black History Month in
October, Anti Bullying Week in November and Internet Safety Day in February. ChildLine workshops
are delivered in upper key stage 2, and we ensure every child throughout the school has the
opportunity to share any concerns. Worry boxes and feelings charts are in every classroom and a
keyworker is assigned to each child. Continued learning of these and other life issues are focused on
during My Place in the World; a subject that covers relevant issues from around the world, activities
to promote self-confidence and self-awareness, careers advice and guidance about education,
employment and training, general health and well-being and also all other aspects of PSHE and
Citizenship. Newsround is also watched to encourage children to be aware of global issues. Annual
visits to the Positive Lifestyle Centre help to install learning around keeping safe and transition to
secondary schools. As a school we understand the importance of transition to new classes as well as
new schools and know how difficult it can be, especially for many of our children at our school. In
order for things to run smoothly and for the children to feel more confident, we hold a transition week
in July so the children can spend time getting to know their new teacher and classroom. Year 6
transition is ongoing throughout the whole of their final year with visits to career fayres, universities
and also visits from a variety of professionals such as; Olympic athletes, sea cadets, nurses and Zoo
Lab.

Each class has a different focus on Bradford during the spring term; these include gaining knowledge
on Bradford City Football Clubs fire disaster, mills and transport, changing industry in the area and
the Bronte sisters. We have house mornings each half term that are named after Bradfordian people
who have had a positive impact on life today. Each house group takes part in an activity to help develop
their learning and life skills. These activities are covered through library, City Hall and museum visits,
forest school, cooking, IT, art and circus skills workshops.
British Values are promoted throughout the curriculum, and we also have specific events purely based
around these values during our British Values week. Each year group focuses on one of the values
throughout the week and then their work is displayed in our British Values Gallery. We have afternoon
tea, on one of the afternoons, for the whole school, sandwiches, buns and scones are made and served
by children. This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to embrace being British and the values
held by all. The week is topped off with a whole school rendition of the national anthem and parents
are invited to walk around our British Values Gallery of work. This year we are also focusing on British
cities in order for the children to improve their knowledge and understanding of the great cities within
our country and to develop their geography knowledge. Saints Days are covered in Literacy lessons to
also embed British values.
Our school is taking an active role to become a school of sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers.
Children are continuing to gain knowledge, empathy and understanding on the unfortunate events taking
place in our world today. Last year, the whole school took part in Refugee Week. Each year group
created a piece of artwork around the theme common ground and shared dreams. The artwork was
then displayed in Kala Sangam for the public to view. Year 1s collective artwork of the dove of peace
was used on flyers and posters to promote the exhibition throughout Bradford. City of Sanctuary
meetings, for schools, are hosted here so that we can share our good practice.
We continually encourage our children to let their voice be heard and to have a say on things that
happen in our school. This is done through our School Council, who have been chosen fairly by children
and staff after applying for the position and being interviewed. The successful applicants then take
suggestions from the children in school on issues such as; changes to school dinners and new equipment
for outdoors. The School Council are also involved in interviewing potential new staff, safeguarding and
attendance, finance and fundraising, healthy lifestyles and health and safety. They then report back
to the rest of the school regularly through School Council assemblies.

Reading
At Fagley Primary, we seek to not simply teach our children to read, but to want to read, to choose to
read and then to love to read. We recognise that building this ethos involves sharing this attitude
across all subjects and all year groups.
Children in our Foundation Stage take part in daily shared reading, in which books, information and
stories are discussed and celebrated. Books are a means for children, especially those with little
English language exposure, to develop their vocabulary and detect sounds and rhythms with the focus
being on the enjoyment of the experience. This is where the love of what books have to offer is born.
Key Stage One empowers our children to want to read. Continuing from Reception, children in Year 1
and 2 have daily phonics lessons which enable them to move to independent reading. This growing

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confidence and competence is supported through building on our strong links with parents and carers:
children practise their skills and share books at home. All children have access to good quality and
challenging texts, regardless of their home background.
In Key Stage Two, phonics teaching continues in interventions for those children who have not yet
understood each phase of the Letters and Sounds programme so that all children, regardless of
ability, want to read because they can. Children in Years 3 to 6 also continue to complete a Reading
Record at home to ensure communication continues between school and home. It is in Key Stage Two
where children also learn to choose to read.
Learning at Fagley Primary ensures the children are introduced to rich and varied texts - not just in
English lessons, but throughout the curriculum, including in assemblies. Teaching around these texts
allows children to discuss, embed and apply new vocabulary: books are the vehicles to creating more
articulate learners. Reading for pleasure is developed through Shared Reading sessions in each class in
which teachers, and subsequently children, model stating opinions about texts. Teachers select texts
to sustain, and in response to, childrens interests. Teachers model reading with expression so that
children understand the expectation during Guided Reading sessions.

Knowledge of each classs

interests is also built into weekly library sessions; classroom staff accompany children and ensure
books are chosen for interest yet remain accessible. The library time is an opportunity for children to
engage with books slightly above their independent reading level we allow children to choose to read.
Understanding of what is read is the key to a love of reading. Each class has at least three Guided
Reading sessions per week. Children of all abilities are taught to retrieve information from texts they
can access and analyse information and events. Children who have mastered these skills and have
experienced all we have to offer at Fagley Primary truly do love reading.

Speech & Language Therapy

I have been working in Fagley Primary School as a Speech & Language Therapist since November 2013.
This input has occurred on a weekly basis.
Working as part of the school team in Fagley has enabled me to provide holistic care for each student
on my caseload by working alongside the SENCo, class teachers and teaching assistants. School staff
have been trained to support the students speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) through
individual and group speech & language therapy (SLT) programs or as a whole class approach. As a
result staff know which pathways to follow in order to support the students SLCN and feel more
confident when leading interventions. This integrated approach has supported the students ability to
access to the curriculum.
Early intervention has also been targeted within the school and children centre setting. This early
intervention has had a positive effect on the students speech and language development, which is
evident from the reduced number of older children needing support in school.
Working in Fagley Primary School has allowed me to also support families, who may not have been able
to attend community appointments. By building on the established parental links in school

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Parents of children with SLCN have attended meetings, training sessions and therapy sessions. By
building on Parents confidence and knowledge around Speech & Language development this has enabled
them to better support their childs speech and language development.
I look forward to continue working collaboratively with the staff in Fagley Primary School to support
the students SLCN.

Talk for Writing

At Fagley Primary School, we recognise that good writing relies on childrens ability to have an element
of fluidity in their language and communication skills.
Talk is the foundation skill to allow coherent, clear and engaging writing.
Many of the children who attend our school struggle with Language and Communication skills along with
poor vocabulary. As a result of this, we adopted the Talk for Writing (T4W) approach to bridge the
gap, equipping children not only with an array of text structures but also with the vocabulary and
language which could be applied in different contexts.
Each half term, both a fiction and non-fiction text is taught using the T4W method. Texts are
selected carefully to link into curricular themes. As a whole school, we follow the progression
document published by Pie Corbett (recently updated to fit the new National Curriculum). This
indicates the kind of key language that should be taught in each year group.
Texts are re-written accordingly to feature key learning that is needed based on prior assessment and
known gaps.
Story or text maps are made by the teacher and actions are used to learn the text by heart. This is
appealing to visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners.
Any key language taught has an action. These are displayed in class as a reminder for future learning
and application. Each year, all the displayed actions get passed up along with the class so that the next
teacher can build on that learning.
Children are taught how to innovate the text learnt in order to create a new one. This is done primarily
through shared and guided writing.
Our hope as a school is that children will have a bank of different text structures and vocabulary that
can then be used in the invention stage.
This is where children are able to write an array of texts using what they have learnt along with what
they have picked up through reading.
To heighten the profile of T4W, dedicated class assemblies are held where year groups are
encouraged to share some of their story / text maps and perform the texts learnt. This allows for
both teachers and children to see the impact and progression throughout the life of the school.

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