Literacy
We recognise and place great value on literacy skills as an essential tool for achievement in all areas of the curriculum as well as in later life. Our English leader (Mrs Douthwaite) is currently employed by an English Hub to provide support for other schools.
Our English curriculum is structured to provide learning activities that enrich the experiences of our children through creative and innovative teaching approaches. We focus on four clear purposes for writing that run through our curriculum and help to develop pupils' schemata.
We have visits from authors and poets to inspire our children and staff. Our teachers choose texts to engage and enthral our children. For the last 9 years, our year 5 pupils have published their writing and have sold the books for profit.
Our phonics programme has been developed as a result of our partnership with an English hub. We use "letters and sounds" as a basis for our bespoke approach to teaching phonics in a systematic and structured way. We have invested in new books to support our new approaches to reading at home and in school and have been supported in doing so via funding from FoBG.
Consequently, our children make excellent progress and achieve very well. Our performance tables are available here.
Additional information:
I Love Reading is a school-wide initiative to encourage all our children to read for pleasure and to develop a genuine passion for books.
Research, and experience, shows that children who read for pleasure not only read more fluently but also achieve better results at school. We believe reading regularly and using a range of books and texts forms the foundation of a good education and also supports and develops creative writing. There are many elements to the I Love Reading scheme
Library
FOBG has funded the redevelopment of our school library, which provides fantastic opportunities for our children to develop a love of reading. Our qualified librarian Sally is currently engaged in a research project with year 3. Our library is open at lunchtime every day and also after school on the following days.
Author visits
We have regular visits from published authors, who inspire our children to enjoy books and also to have confidence to express their ideas in their own writing.
Book corners
Every classroom has a book corner, designed to be an inviting and inspiring space for reading. With the support of the Friends of Bishop Gilpin (FOBG) we refresh the stock and shelving in each classroom to make sure the books are up-to-date and displayed in an appealing way.
