English
Our Approach to English
At Barnes Farm, we want every child to feel confident and excited about reading, writing and communicating. Our English curriculum brings together all the key skills children need—reading, writing, phonics, spelling and handwriting—in a way that is clear, supportive and enjoyable.
Children begin with strong foundations in early reading through high-quality phonics teaching, while engaging stories and texts help nurture a genuine love of reading. As they move through the school, pupils learn to express their ideas clearly in writing and build the skills they need to spell accurately and write neatly.
Together, these approaches help us create a warm, engaging and high-quality English curriculum—one that supports children to become skilled readers, expressive writers and enthusiastic learners for life.
To find out more, please click on the subject sections for Reading, Writing, Phonics, Spelling and Handwriting below:
English Curriculum - Reading & Writing
Our English curriculum is built around Jonathan Bond’s English Toolkit—a highly structured yet inspiring framework that supports pupils in developing strong writing skills step by step.
Through this approach, children learn to craft clear, purposeful and engaging writing by exploring high‑quality texts, analysing effective language choices, and practising the essential skills that underpin great writing. Each unit follows a consistent and supportive sequence—planning, modelling, practising, improving and publishing—allowing every learner to experience success and progress with confidence.
We place great importance on vocabulary development, reading for pleasure, and building the stamina and independence needed for confident writing. Pupils are encouraged to take pride in their work, learn from model texts, and reflect on how writers use language deliberately to influence their readers.
By combining the Jonathan Bond approach with our school’s values, we aim to nurture enthusiastic readers and thoughtful, expressive writers who are equipped to thrive in their learning and beyond.
Phonics
At Barnes Farm Primary School, we provide pupils with a clear understanding of how the alphabet works for reading and spelling.
Using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised scheme, we enable our pupils to become fluent and confident readers with a strong phonological awareness whilst providing opportunities for repetition and consolidation so that reading, and spelling become automatic.
From Reception, we teach phonics in a variety of ways such as whole class direct instruction, small group exploration of individual sounds, graphemes, spelling families, High Frequency Words and Common Exception Words. We follow the Letters and Sounds structure.
Reception
Twice daily, our pupils in our EYFS classrooms will have a phonics lesson which follow a range of strategies.
In Phase 1 pupils will be taught to:
- Develop speaking and listening skills
- Develop language and vocabulary
- Explore environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds, oral blending and segmenting
- Develop curiosity about letters and sounds using fun activities
In Phase 2 and 3 pupils will be taught:
- Phase 2 - Nineteen sounds including their sound and name
- To segment and blend letters including VC and CVC words
- To read some tricky words (words which are not phonetically decodable)
- To read two syllable words and simple captions
- Phase 3 – Another 25 graphemes
- To use their blending and segmenting knowledge when reading and spelling
- To read more tricky words and begin to spell them
Year 1
As the children progress into Year 1, they have two fifteen minute phonic sessions daily. Pupils will progress to Phase 4 and 5 but also recap previous phases where necessary.
In Phase 4 and 5, pupils will be taught:
- Phase 4 – consolidate knowledge of graphemes, segmenting and blending
- To read and spell words with adjacent consonants and polysyllabic words
- Phase 5 – new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for the graphemes they already know
- To select the correct graphemes to represent phonemes when spelling
- In Reception, ‘Word Worms’ are sent home to consolidate and practise with parents and carers. This will also apply to individual pupils in Year 1 and 2 if appropriate.
Year 2
By the time children go up to Year 2 most will know all sounds and graphemes up to Phase 5 so the focus turns to spelling families such as words with the medial vowel sound - 'ee' 'ough' and then progress onto words with prefixes and suffixes e.g. '...ness', '...ful', 'in....', 'un....'. Consolidation of all phases is taught as well as the Year 2 Common Exception Word list.
Phonics is taught using the Little Wandle phonics scheme. The website has lots of helpful information about supporting phonics at home.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Spelling
In EYFS and Key Stage 1, early reading and spelling are taught through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This systematic synthetic phonics programme provides pupils with the essential foundations in decoding, fluency and early spelling, ensuring they develop strong, accurate habits from the very beginning of their learning journey.
As pupils move into Key Stage 2, we build on these solid foundations through the Spelling Shed scheme of work. This programme offers a clear and progressive structure for teaching spelling rules, patterns and vocabulary development. Through engaging activities and regular practice, pupils deepen their understanding of how words work and grow into confident, accurate and adventurous spellers.