About Our English Curriculum

Here at Woodhall, we use CUSP Reading & Writing curriculum across the school.

In Nursery, the children start their learning through investigating the world around them, with themed weeks of learning. There is whole-class learning, where the children hear a broad range of texts and get the opportunities to develop comprehension skills. Also, for each theme, there are plentiful activities set up as exciting ‘Learning Labs’ where the children get the opportunity to explore and be inquisitive.

Phonics
At Woodhall Primary School, we teach phonics using a linguistic phonics programme called Sounds-Write. This programme is successful in teaching children to read and spell because it starts with what all children know from a very young age – speech sounds. Then, using a very systematic approach, it teaches them how these sounds are coded within our writing system.

Children in EYFS and KS1 have a 30-minute phonics lesson every day.

If you would like to learn more about our approach to phonics, please click here to find out about the free online course.

Reading and Writing
In EYFS, pupils are invited to investigate the world around them, within themed weeks of learning. Within each theme they share a broad range of texts, learning new vocabulary and developing their comprehension skills. Within the classroom, there are plentiful activities set up where the children are able to explore and be inquisitive whilst developing their communication and language skills, utilising the new vocabulary that has been taught. In Reception, children build on these skills alongside more formal phonics teaching. They also take part in reading and writing activities, developing their letter formation, phonemic awareness, blending and segmenting skills.

Across the rest of the school, children receive daily reading and writing lessons, following the CUSP curriculum. CUSP Reading and Writing is an evidence informed, carefully sequenced English curriculum, which maps core content in reading and writing across the primary journey, ensuring that learning is taught and revisited over time so that pupils commit their understanding to the long-term memory.

For further information on the curriculum please read the Subject Overview which is available in the attachments section on this page.