English
At St Mary’s CE Primary School, we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop their all-important comprehension skills. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in English skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to flourish in the wider world.
Reading
At St Mary’s, we provide a literature-rich, word-loving environment, where children explore topics that they find stimulating, engaging and exciting through quality first texts. They will be taught to write about what interests them and in genres that they enjoy. Teachers will help pupils to find meaningful, authentic reasons to write, remembering that learning to form letters and spell words are not the same skills as developing a voice as a writer but equally important. Wherever possible, throughout the curriculum, pupils will be given opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions with a listening audience.
Meet DERIC
DERIC arrived at St Mary’s in October 2022. We use DERIC as a whole class approach to teach reading skills from Year One upwards It aims to equip pupils with the necessary skills to be successful readers. Focusing on building fluency and embedding comprehension skills with direct, taught sessions. DERIC stands for; Decode, Explain, Retrieve, Interpret and Choice. These are all closely linked to the assessed strands in the end of key stage assessments.
DERIC:
D for decode - this is the sounding out and blending of words and then becoming more confident with reading words on sight.
E for explain - asking the children to explain the meaning of words and being able to explain what is happening in the text they have read.
R - for retrieve - asking the children questions where the answer can be found in the text or pictures. For example: How many cups are on the table? What colour is the bear's hat?
I - for interpret - the children are to use their inference skills to use clues in the text and what they already know to make suggestions about what they have read. (Using ‘because’ in their responses). For example: Why do you think the bear was crying?
C - for choice - asking the children questions about why the author has chosen to lay out the text in a particular way.
When teaching, the whole class answer the same questions based around the same text. The activities or level of support is adapted for different abilities so that all children can access the learning and be challenged. Sometimes, texts are part of a class book or at other times they are a poem or non-fiction article depending on the writing focus. The whole class reading approach supports rapid progress of lower ability readers. Research suggests this is due to exposure to higher-level questions and answers. Pictorial stimulus or activities which are designed to have a comprehension focus but reduce the amount of decoding can also be used to support SEND/EAL pupils.
"I love DERIC lessons. They have really improved my comprehension skills." (Year 6 Pupil Voice 2023)
