Oxfordshire Book Awards

Watlington are fortunate enough to be part of the Oxfordshire Book Awards. This celebrates current books and authors aimed at primary and secondary pupils. Each year, the school receives a set of the short listed books for the awards and the children read, review and vote on their favourites. These votes are added to other schools across the county and it culminates in a ceremony to celebrate the winning authors.

This year a group of year 5 and 6 pupils had the opportunity to attend the event that took place at Magdelan College School in Oxford. They listened to some excellent speeches form the authors that included: an illustration workshop; quizzes; golden ticket competition; lots of jokes; anecdotes; extract readings and even a virtual escape room. Everyone was inspired to try reading some different genres and authors.

Recent Highlights...

This year we have already had a number of Communication Team events for our subjects (Reading, Writing and Languages).

Recent highlights include,

Reading café

• The event was very well attended where teachers read stories to groups, parents shared books with their children, all with the added bonus of tea and cake provided by the PTA!
• IMPACT: Engaging all families in the joy of sharing books and reading for pleasure.

Librarians and libraries

• Our libraries continue to be managed by our super team of library volunteers, who keep our texts up to date, create vibrant displays and who support pupils to find engaging texts.
• IMPACT: Children have a wide range of books to choose from and expert guidance to choose challenging, interesting books and explore new authors.

Summer reading challenge

• This summer we launched a Watlington reading challenge which had lots of entries!  Each entry was put in to a prize draw to win a book, as well as the chance to be a school librarian. 
• IMPACT: Engaged many families to keep reading a priority over the summer and engage with different text types.

Pupil Librarians and lunchtime library sessions

• The pupil librarian sessions are up and running on a Friday lunchtimes.  The library is a hive of activity with our newly appointed librarians offering support to their peers.
• IMPACT: Children engaging other children with reading and books is a powerful way to keep the buzz of reading at the heart of our school.

Class book corners

• Class book corners are creative and inspiring areas for children to become lost in the work of books!  Look out for the displays of our class reads too. 
• IMPACT: Children can explore relevant, challenging and exciting books linked to topics, year group and interests.

Cinderella Performance and Big Write

• We were fortunate enough to have a theatre company to provide inspiration for our whole school Big Write! 
• IMPACT: Children demonstrated all the skills developed from Talk for Writing lessons with imaginative, exciting and unique responses.

Languages day

• As well as our excellent provision, led by our specialist language teacher, we also marked European day of languages with Watlington Languages Week!  This ended in an assembly to share our learning with parents and carers. 
• IMPACT: Children have developed an enthusiasm and for other cultures, languages and countries.

Cross phase work with Icknield Community College

• Drama workshops led to children developing confident performance skills and improved oracy

Outcomes

• We are thrilled with our statutory outcomes.
• Reading engagement across the school is high as the children always tell us in pupil voice interviews.

Looking forward; more Christmas theatre visits for all year groups, poetry recital event, Big Bedtime read, reading cafes and attendance at the Oxfordshire Book Awards….more updates on these soon.

Communication at Watlington Primary School

The communication team leads the following subjects: Reading (including phonics), Writing, SPaG and Modern Foreign Languages.

At Watlington Primary School we believe that the Communication curriculum:

• Provides a rich cross-curricular approach to English where engaging and purposeful texts are at the heart of all learning.

• Develops skills to enable children to become proficient communicators.  Opportunities to develop children’s reading, writing and speaking & listening skills are embedded not only within the English curriculum but also across the wider creative curriculum.

• Inspires children to engage with language and promotes enquiring, imaginative minds with the ability to ask questions and develop independent learning behaviours.

• Maximises life skills to ensure happy, healthy and resilient adults that can utilise their communication skills for both work and pleasure.

Reading Intent

At Watlington Primary School we develop early phonological skills enabling them to become confident young readers using the systematic phonics approach through the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) programme. This translates into progressively challenging and engaging texts throughout KS1 and KS2. These skills are developed with early reading in Nursery. We establish a thirst for reading through use of high quality texts within our Talk for Writing approach. We engage with established links/visit with the local library for our younger children and maximise our excellent libraries throughout the school in order to encourage a life-long love of books. We embed comprehension skills through English and topics and benefit from reading workshops, book clubs and school reading cafes that engage positive parental involvement. We celebrate a love of reading through special events such as World Book Day, Shakespeare Week, author visits and shared reading through the key stages.

Writing Intent

At Watlington Primary School the children are inspired to enjoy writing from early mark making opportunities, both inside and outside, leading to writing for purpose and intent in a range of styles. We engage with Talk for Writing throughout the school and this embeds a deeper understanding of genres, text-types and audience. The children respond to stimulating hooks to inspire purposeful writing outcomes.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Intent

At Watlington Primary School the children learn relevant skills linked to spelling, punctuation and grammar through lessons threaded across the curriculum. They understand that these skills are not stand alone and therefore confidently demonstrate how to apply these skills in all writing opportunities. 

Speaking and Listening Intent

At Watlington Primary School children develop into sensitive and confident communicators who can demonstrate respectful exchanges by listening, speaking with kindness and tolerance as well as explaining with clarity and confidence. They explore and experience different situations where speaking and listening are essential tools to communication, including: performance, presentation, discussion and debate opportunities. They understand the importance of speaking and listening effectively and that this can support misunderstandings being addressed and resolved.

Modern Foreign Languages Intent

We believe the children at Watlington Primary School develop a curiosity towards other cultures and languages. Our goal is for them to be passionate, curious and confident about their own foreign language learning abilities when they finish school. We help them develop and demonstrate progress  in the five key language skills necessary for learning French (speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar). We will also help strengthen their sense of identity through learning about other cultures and comparing them with their own.

Knowledge and Skills Progression Ladders

These ladders are the basis for our planning, teaching and learning. They draw on Bloom's Taxonomy, the National Curriculum and subject-specific schemes where applicable.