Literacy

How Children Learn Best

At Brook Infant School and Nursery we believe in enabling the children to become independent lifelong learners and literacy is central in giving children the tools to achieve this. We want to instil in them a passion for learning and an enthusiasm for speaking and listening, reading and writing in all areas of the curriculum.

We believe in a strong learning environment and ensure their learning journey is meaningful by building on the child’s own experiences and their interests. Our cross-curricula, creative, ‘hands-on’ approach ensures that we accommodate different learning styles, promote inclusion and provide a context in which each individual can explore, enrich and extend their understanding.

Our Speaking and Listening Approach

Speaking and listening is at the heart of learning, contributing to the development of social, personal, educational skills. At Brook Infant School and Nursery we establish a climate in which every child’s talk is valued and seen as an essential vehicle for their learning journey as soon as they start school. Children are encouraged to share their own interests with others through bringing achievements and experiences from home into school. Through our creative approach with our literacy teaching, children are given many experiences to respond through drama and the spoken word.

Our Reading Approach

We ensure our children can select their own texts focusing on a wide range of literature from reading schemes and ‘real’ books. All children are encouraged to change their books regularly and we work closely with our parents and families to ensure children are supported towards their next stage of reading. Children experience reading in school on an individual basis and within a group supported by teachers. This ensures that we focus on the skills of reading as well as developing ‘book talk’ focusing on inference and deduction of characters, language and plot.

Our Writing Approach

During literacy lessons children work towards a final piece of writing focusing on the skills that they have practised over time. Children from an early age are given a choice on how they want to present their writing in their books or own creations. Teachers give regular feedback to children and editing time is given to allow children to reflect on how they can improve their writing – like a real author!

At Brook Infant School and Nursery handwriting is developed through:

Practical activities developing fine motor skills, e.g. threading, using tweezers, scissor control, finger gym and funky finger activities.
‘Write Dance’ activities from Nursery through to Year Two to support gross and fine motor development through music and movement.
Regular focused handwriting sessions that follow the school policy. Once single letter formation is secure children will begin to develop a joined handwriting style form.

Playing with sounds

Teach your Monster to Read