English
"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young."
Reading at Ferney Lee
We begin with the simple idea that reading is a lifelong gift. We understand the research that shows reading brings three core benefits: intrinsic enjoyment; the development of a global view and empathy for others; as well as academic success and much improved life chances. We know that a child's early speech, language and communication - processing sounds, understanding and using vocabulary, recognising tone and context, the ability to listen and concentrate - are the foundation stones for learning to read. We also know that the technical skills needed to become a successful reader (decoding and comprehension) cannot be taught in isolation: being a confident and motivated reader, being able to talk about what is being read, thinking positively about reading and having the self-regulation strategies to improve are as important on the journey to becoming a Ferney Lee Reader.
The National Literacy Trust's Read On, Get On campaign helps to shape our approach to reading at Ferney Lee; likewise the Open University's work on Reading for Pleasure. For more information about reading at Ferney Lee please click on the link to the reading policy here:
Read Write Inc.
We teach phonics using Read Write Inc (RWI), a systematic, synthetic phonics (SSP) programme from Reception to year 2.
Watch the videos below to find out how to say pure sounds and how best to support your child at home with phonics. There is also a video to give you more information on the statutory phonics screening check that children are expected to take at the end of Year 1. If you would like any further information on this scheme and how we implement this at Ferney Lee, or how best to support your child, please do get in touch!
Writing at Ferney Lee
At Ferney Lee, we aim to develop a love of reading and writing that starts with exposure to rich, diverse and varied text types. Through these carefully chosen core texts, children are provided with opportunities to study the use of language in all its forms and teachers make explicit the link between reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Children learn that words are powerful and that through their own writing they too can experience many adventures, move people, create new worlds, and even change the real one.
Children are provided with many opportunities to study and use higher-level vocabulary in their writing, which is drawn from the high-quality core texts they are exposed to across the curriculum.
We recognise the importance of nurturing an environment where children want to take pride in their writing and feel a sense of independence from proofreading and editing their own work, which is a regular part of English lessons.
We use the RAFT writing strategy that helps our students understand their roles as writers, the audience they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they'll be writing about.
EVENTS
Ferney Lee "Books & Brews" book cafe.
It was absolutely fantastic to welcome back our wonderful Ferney Lee families at the relaunch of our "Books & Brews" cafe (the first since the start of the pandemic!). This wonderful event allows our families to come into school and explore the library with their child or children and share a good book with a cuppa and some cake. The cake sale raised over £300 to buy new books for our school, so a very big thank you to everyone who came! It was so lovely to see the whole Ferney Lee family enjoying a good book together. Take a look to see who got caught reading!
Our Class Libraries
Below are the core texts and other literature that we use to support the delivery of our curriculum. These are the planned for texts that children will come to know well and are used as stimulus for a variety of writing outcomes, comprehension lessons, and spelling, punctuation and grammar explorations. These libraries are not definitive; the children will also be exposed to other texts as part of reading and storytelling events, national celebration days, book weeks or reading days, storytimes, as the need arises to cover PSHE and RSE themes and to promote British Values.
Take a closer look at the core texts we use to support our curriculum by clicking on the links to the right.
Ferney Lee Road, Todmorden,
Lancs, OL14 5NR
01706 254848
admin@ferneylee.calderdale.sch.uk