English Language (including speaking and listening):

At Field Court Infant Academy, we recognise the importance of speaking and listening in a child’s development from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to Year 2. Talk is embedded in day to day learning through the use of talking partners which are used daily in lessons, through to debate and discussion used in Philosophy for Children. Children are encouraged to speak fluently so they can convey and communicate their thoughts and ideas to each other.

As an academy, we encourage children to write and record their thoughts and processes in many different ways and for different purposes; from shopping lists in the home corner to investigating a scientific enquiry. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught on a daily basis, discreetly through English lessons across the academy.

Writing at FCIA

Click here to read FCIA Writing statement

Click here to see our Whole School Writing Progression Map

Creativity, engagement and enjoyment lie at the heart of every curriculum area at Field Court Infants and writing is used as a stage which showcase the children’s abilities. Every term, children are immersed in their topic by celebrating the start of their topic with a BUZZ day and ending with an amazing CELEBRATION! Speaking and Listening play a key part in how our children learn to write. As a school, we use Talk 4 Writing when teaching writing. This involves children ‘imitating’ a text and learning the text off by heart. Using physical actions and physical references, the children learn to tell the story orally. This structures their thinking and scaffolds their writing. The next stage is ‘innovating’ and choosing aspects to change and then inventing their own. During this creative and imaginative process, children can analyse and truly understand what the text’s body is made up of, honing in on the skills needed for that text type, and then using these skills when writing their own. We use Literacy Tree Writing Units to enhance the children's knowledge of year group skills in Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, through using quality text types. Whilst learning at Field Court Infants, children will access a rich diet of genres which link directly to the year group’s or school’s topic. The children love learning in this fun, kinaesthetic way.

Ask your child to perform their Talk 4 Writing stories!

From the Early Years, children are encouraged and supported to write for a variety of reasons; from writing and practising names, labelling a model built from Lego, to writing recounts about our exciting school trips. Teachers choose exciting and engaging stories or texts that are tailored to the children and to our topics. During our whole school topic of ‘Roarasaurus’, Reception wrote about the strange egg that hatched in their classroom, Year 1 were shocked to find dinosaur footprints on their classroom floor and Year 2 were contacted by Mary Anning to become palaeontologists and write non-chronological reports about a mystery dinosaur!.

Handwriting at FCIA

Handwriting is a skill that affects written communication across the curriculum and is a movement skill which is best taught by demonstration, explanation and practise. At FCIA, we encourage children to use the course pencil grip and letter formation. This is a handwriting approach we teach through Letter-join. This involves teaching pre -writing patterns, the starting point and formation of letter families; Long Ladders, Curly Caterpillars, One Armed Robots and Zig-Zag, keeping them on the line and an appropriate size. We begin by teaching children in Reception print letters and introduce leads in Year 1. Starting this from the Early Years enables children to progress quickly through their handwriting journey and become confident using cursive script by the end of Key Stage 1. As with all good handwriting teaching, it is important that children are taught to correctly grip their pencils and encouraged to sit using the correct posture.

Handwriting Grip

Handwriting in EYFS Handwriting in Year 1 and 2

Phonics at FCIA

Please click here to view an introduction to the Phonics Screening Check.

Click here to read FCIA Phonics / Reading Intent Statement

Phonics is the teaching of matching sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes) then subsequently teaching the skill of blending these sounds together to read whole word. Children are encouraged to break down – or segment - unknown words into their sounds for spelling and know that blending and segmenting are reversible processes. The aim of phonics learning is word reading which involves both the speedy working out of unfamiliar words and the speedy recognition of familiar words. Underpinning both, is the understanding that the text on the page represents the sounds in spoken words.

There are 26 letters in the alphabet and it is generally accepted that English has 44 sounds. There are more than 250 graphemes for writing these sounds. At Field Court C of E Infant Academy, we teach Phonics through a scheme called ELS, which is accredited by the government. ELS divides these graphemes into 6 distinct phases which are taught over the course of children’s infant education, and beyond if required.

Phonics is taught daily and delivered in a fun, multi –sensory way which gets children to read and write from an early age. Our children are introduced to the 44 sounds, a sound is taught and associated with a specific action and rhyme. Previous phonemes are recapped and reviewed, a new sound is taught. This new knowledge is practised and then applied. Regular assessment allows us to re-teach those sounds not yet embedded. This cycle is then repeated for different phonemes the following day. Please find a link with the sounds (phonemes) here.

Phase 2

Phase 2 sounds with ELS

Learn about Phase 3 digraphs with our Y1 School Council 

Phase 3

Learn about Phase 5 digraphs with our Y1 School Council

Phonics Workshop

Our reading scheme follows the same progression as our Phonics programme. We match children’s reading books to their progress in Phonics and use our assessments to identify any sounds that mind need further revision.

During the month of June, in Year 1, children are required to sit the Phonics Screening Check where their phonic knowledge is assessed by getting the children to decode a series of real and ‘alien’ or pseudo words.

Should your child not meet the threshold mark which is set each year, their phonics knowledge will be checked again in Year 2. Please find previous phonics screening checks at the link here.

Reading at FCIA

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”- Dr Seuss.

Click here to see our Whole School Reading Progression Map

Reading is a fundamental and integral part of learning at the academy. When entering the classrooms, you’ll be met with comfy reading nooks, a relaxing library area and even a reading bunk bed or two! At FCIA, we give children a range of opportunities to develop and practise their reading- ultimately we want children to develop pleasure when reading. With this in mind, our embedded reading culture allows children time to read for their pleasure, in the comfort of their own classroom and read something that they choose. Across the school, we use Oxford Reading Tree as a basis for class and home reading however; we offer children a variety of publishers and text types giving them a breadth of learning experiences. 

We teach Whole Class Reading from the Early Years to Year 2. Children share a high quality, rich texts with their teacher and peers which spark curiosity and require children to Decode, Explain, Retrieve, Infer and make a Choice (DERIC) about the text type. Children's ideas and thoughts around a text are recorded in our class big books which children can refer back to at a later time. Children in KS1 will also complete written activities surrounding their class text which will illustrate understanding and build on inference skills.

In the Early Years, phonetically decodable books are favoured so children’s phonics learning is scaffolded and supported. These books will contain words that can be segmented (sounded out) and blended (put together). From Reception, children access books tailored to their reading ability. Across the academy, we use a levelled system that can be found below. As a child progresses, they are encouraged to select their own reading material thus building their love of reading. 

Children can also access ‘Oxford Reading Buddy’ and ‘Oxford Owl’ which is an online, engaging and fun reading platform for children to develop their reading. We feel that it is a fantastic addition to our resources and it continues to develop the children’s love of reading. If you have any questions or queries regarding your child’s reading learning journey, please contact your child’s class teacher or Miss Palmer, our Reading Lead.  

Reading is a fundamental and integral part of learning at the academy. When entering the classrooms, you’ll be met with comfy reading nooks, a relaxing library area and even a reading bunk bed or two! At FCIA, we give children a range of opportunities to develop and practise their reading- ultimately we want children to develop pleasure when reading. With this in mind, our embedded reading culture allows children time to read for their pleasure, in the comfort of their own classroom and read something that they choose. Across the school, we use Oxford Reading Tree as a basis for class and home reading however; we offer children a variety of publishers and text types giving them a breadth of learning experiences. 

We teach Whole Class Reading from the Early Years to Year 2. Children share a high quality, rich texts with their teacher and peers which spark curiosity and require children to Decode, Explain, Retrieve, Infer and make a Choice (DERIC) about the text type. 

In the Early Years, phonetically decodable books are favoured so children’s phonics learning is scaffolded and supported. These books will contain words that can be segmented (sounded out) and blended (put together). From Reception, children access books tailored to their reading ability. Across the academy, we use a levelled system that can be found below. As a child progresses, they are encouraged to select their own reading material thus building their love of reading. 

Children can also access ‘Oxford Reading Buddy’ and ‘Oxford Owl’ which is an online, engaging and fun reading platform for children to develop their reading. We feel that it is a fantastic addition to our resources and it continues to develop the children’s love of reading. If you have any questions or queries regarding your child’s reading learning journey, please contact your child’s class teacher or Miss Palmer, our Reading Lead.