Vision

At King’s Academy Gomer, we want our learners to leave us as confident, proficient writers with a love of literature. We provide an ambitious reading, writing and oracy curriculum that supports our learners in developing the skills necessary to succeed in their next stage of education.

Our Approach to Writing

At King’s Academy Gomer, we use the Opening Doors approach to writing. This research-based approach champions using high-quality text drivers, including modern and heritage texts, to expose children to a wide range of sources, develop their vocabulary and give them aspirational models of writing to draw upon when writing themselves. Using the Opening Doors approach of pitching high with scaffolded support, we unlock ambitious and diverse texts as models of excellence. 

Care is taken to ensure that written outcomes are published to a high standard so that children can take pride in the writing outcomes they produce. Outcome pieces are collected in their purple books, which follow children up through the school to capture their progress- small step or exceptional- across KS2. In Year 6, their purple books become their assessment portfolios, this is where independent writing is planned, drafted and published.

Spelling

At King’s Academy Gomer we follow the Spelling Shed scheme. We have chosen this scheme because it is the most up-to-date scheme available based on cutting edge research into the teaching of spelling and incorporates an online platform children can engage with at home to support their spelling attainment. Spelling Shed’s approach to spelling involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols as well as using morphology and etymology to help spell through meaning. The carefully selected word lists and engaging activities provide opportunities to incorporate phonics and meaning to strengthen spelling skills and build vocabulary acquisition.

Handwriting

At King’s Academy Gomer we follow the Kinetic Letters handwriting programme. This is an evidence-informed programme that builds the cognitive and physical skills necessary for handwriting so that handwriting becomes automatic and all the attention of the brain can be on the writing content. Our feeder infant school also follows the Kinetic Letters programme, which means when our learners arrive here they will be familiar with the language and expectations and able to build on their KS1 handwriting foundations.

Our Approach to Reading

Whole class guided reading is taught regularly as a discrete subject. In reading lessons, children focus on the national curriculum objectives, and the key skills needed to develop these areas to support their comprehension skills. Key emphasis is played to vocabulary acquisition, with Tier 2 and Tier 3 words within challenging texts being identified and taught. This is to ensure children gain the vocabulary needed to understand the text and comprehend what they are reading. To further support this, Years 5 and 6 have access to Bedrock, an online vocabulary teaching tool. Reading learning may be focussed around an extract from a text, a picture or clip stimulus or an entire story/ novel.

Cross curricular links with reading are made where possible to give children the chance to apply their skills in different contexts. 

All year groups are also read to regularly, and have the opportunity to follow along with our class set copies (where available) and time is planned into the school day for children to read independently for pleasure. 

All children are also heard to read regularly by an adult, with those needing most support receiving additional reading intervention and support.

For further information please visit our dedicated Reading Page.

For information about our approach to phomics please visit our Phonics Page.

Assessment

We use ongoing assessment to identify gaps in learning and misconceptions, ensuring that children receive timely support and challenge. This helps us to track progress and tailor our teaching to meet the needs of all learners. The following methods are used to assess progress and measure impact:

  • Taster drafts
  • Grammar quizzes 
  • Weekly spelling tests 
  • Continuous, in the moment, teacher formative assessment 
  • Half termly teacher assessment to measure overall progress and attainment
  • Termly assessments and subsequent data analysis
  • In year, school wide and cluster school moderation to ensure consistency in teacher assessed judgements
  • In year 6, the school may be externally moderated by an external moderator to quality assure teacher assessments

High-quality Teaching and Staff Development

Our teachers are committed to delivering high-quality English teaching. Following regular monitoring by the English lead and SLT through targeted learning walks, book looks and professional dialogue, our staff engage in regular English professional development to ensure we are continually refining our approach to achieve the best outcomes for all pupils. 

All staff are currently working with award winning author and education consultant Bob Cox on how we can further improve our writing curriculum.

Home Learning

We ask that parents support their children’s developing literacy skills by: 

  • Reading with your child regularly at home
  • Supporting your child to engage with the Spelling Shed online platform
  • Supporting your child to engage with the Bedrock online platform
  • By completing their writing home learning task set by their class teacher each week