Literacy at Clifton Primary School

At Clifton Primary School, our Literacy Curriculum is made up of Pathways 2 Write, Read, Write Inc (RWI) and Reading VIPERs.

Pathways 2 Write is a writing programme for Primary schools which has a proven methodology built around units of work. These units of work develop vocabulary, reading and writing skills through the mastery approach. Each unit is linked to a high-quality text to ensure engaging and purposeful English lessons.

 

We recognise the importance of early reading at Clifton and have chosen a phonics scheme that is rigorous and has a sequential approach helping to develop pupils’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment of reading. Read, Write Inc phonics is a DfE approved scheme which looks at both reading and writing and ensures books are closely matched to the sounds the children have learnt.

 

In Reading, pupils learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

In Writing, pupils write every day, rehearsing out loud what they want to say, before spelling the words using the graphemes and ‘tricky’ words they know. They practise handwriting every day: sitting at a table comfortably, they learn correct letter formation and how to join letters speedily and legibly. Children’s composition (ideas, vocabulary and grammar) is developed by drawing on their own experiences and talking about the stories they read.

 

 

Alongside Read, Write Inc, we also use Reading Vipers.

What are Vipers? VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. The term Reading Vipers was created by Rob Smith from The Literacy Shed, a website which provides a wide range of interesting and engaging resources for teaching of reading.

VIPERS stands for

Vocabulary

Inference

Prediction

Explanation

Retrieval

Sequence or Summarise

The 6 domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc.  As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and students are familiar with, a range of questions.  They allow the teacher to track the type of questions asked and the children’s responses to these which allows for targeted questioning afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RWI and the National Curriculum