Literacy

At Rustington Community Primary School, we see fluency and proficiency in writing as an essential skill with which we must empower our children. We prioritise building confidence within our children to enable them to effectively and coherently communicate through writing for a range of different audiences and purposes.

We secure fluent and effective reading through the use of a systematic synthetic phonics programme, to enable them to access the wider curriculum, develop a rich vocabulary and enjoy reading for pleasure and as a door to life-long learning. This love of reading supports our writing immensely and creates authors in the making.

We utilise high quality texts, with an emphasis on celebrating diversity and differences, to enable children to internalise the language structures needed for effective, independent writing. In addition to this, the personal experiences and activities our curriculum provides are used as inspiration and motivation for the children’s written work.

Oracy opportunities are embedded into our daily teaching through the use of 'Talk for Writing'. A key feature in this method of structuring lessons is that children internalise the grammatical and language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text’ as well as close reading. The approach moves from dependence towards independence with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully.

Our texts are reviewed regularly, linking to the type of genre, the focus and the reading level of the children in a particular class. We select books that have a reading level above every child in the class to ensure the text challenges both writing and reading skills. To see the texts that your child will be using this term see the Curriculum Maps under the Curriculum menu.

As you wander through the corridors of Rustington, you will see we celebrate our high quality writing with pride. Our walls are filled with the stories and adventures created by the next generation of authors. We are passionate about developing a life-long love of reading and writing here at RCPS, and we endeavour to equip our children with the skills they need for a successful future.