English
The English curriculum is composed of speaking and listening, reading and writing. Depending on the age and stage children will have discrete handwriting, spelling and grammar teaching. Our reading and writing curriculum statements can be downloaded below.
Phonics
At Caen we teach synthetic phonics using the DfE validated Read Write Inc scheme. This is followed in YR and Y1 and may, if necessary be followed in Y2 by all or a group that are still securing their sounds. These lessons are supplemented daily with an English lesson. More information for parents about the scheme can be found here: ReadWriteInc.
Reading for Pleasure
At Caen, the reading curriculum feeds the imagination and opens up a treasure house of wonder and joy for curious young minds. We intend to create a community of readers in the school and to develop life-long readers in the habit of reading widely for pleasure and information, both in and out of school. Our teachers encourage and model reading for pleasure and establish an appreciation and love of reading. They read aloud to children daily and our Reading Curriculum Statement (above) lists the books the children will be read while they are at Caen. It also lists the books included in the Caen Reading Challenge (see below) which the children are encouraged to complete for each year group and also lists the other books that children will be exposed to and be encouraged to enjoy and re-read.
We encourage children to challenge themselves with the Pie Corbett Reading Spine. Pie Corbett is recognised as one of the pre-eminent educationalists with regards to literacy and he has selected appropriate books for every age group. These can be found on the Scholastic site here: https://www.scholastic.co.uk/piecorbett/resources .
Below we have also included recommended reads for each year group - these are all high quality texts that will give your child a rich and varied diet. Oxford Owl have opened up their online reading platform for all here: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/ . Devon Libraries has a a wealth of ebooks and they can be found here: https://librariesunlimited.overdrive.com/ .
Caen Reading Challenge
All children from years 2-6 can take part in the Caen Reading Challenge. This involves reading a selection of carefully chosen "must reads" across the school year and collecting stickers for each title read. By the end of the year, children are awarded their completed certificate with all six stickers on. The books have been chosen to include a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry and to complement the storytime books, which the children have read aloud to them in class. We aim to encourage children to read a wide range of texts, and this reading challenge will help to ensure that they all read books which they might otherwise not select.