In Nursery the children are exposed to a literacy rich environment. We provide a range of high quality, interesting and engaging resources which facilitate literacy opportunities in reading, writing and language development. Children are exposed to print in the environment, early mark making and writing as well as sharing books, reading and phonic skills. It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading and story time is one of our favourite times of the day where we share a range of fiction and non-fiction books. The children love sharing familiar books and talking about authors and enthusiastically participate in the stories by joining in with repeated refrains, rhyming words and predicting what happens next. Traditional tales are a favourite in Nursery and really capture children’s imagination, creativity and reasoning skills. We explore the characters and re-enact stories through puppets and story props.

As part of Book Week, we have enjoyed sharing many stories including the story, ‘The Tortoise and the Hare.’ The moral of the story is that you can be more successful by doing things slowly and steadily than by acting quickly and carelessly. “Slow and steady wins the race.” We have explored the animal’s characteristics and their role in the story and we are very excited to bring the characters to life during dress up day and celebrate our love of books!

This week, we have enjoyed some wonderful stories in Language Arts that have helped us further explore and understand our Unit of Inquiry on Water. We’ve been on a journey on the tail of a whale, we’ve read a number of swashbuckling pirate adventures and we have explored the depths of the ocean and the creatures that live there. The discussions that come up during our many story sessions are varied and complex - ‘What is the difference between a pond and a lake?’, ‘How does the water get to our taps?’ and ‘Where does rain come from?’

We also shared a science experiment to show how rain occurs. We created a cloud in a jar using shaving foam where the learners were asked to use a pipette to drop different coloured water onto the "cloud" - “The cloud becomes heavy and the coloured comes down, it’s like rain.” These moments create rich discussions and also great opportunities to document our writing experiences too.

As part of our annual Book week, we all enjoyed meeting our guest author, Emily Lim. She has written a number of children’s picture books with titles such as ‘Prince Bear & Pauper Bear,’ ‘Tibby the Tiger Bunny’ and ‘The Tale of Rusty Horse.’ The learners were very excited to meet a real author. They listened beautifully and had some interesting questions for our special guest.

We have been fully immersed in books, stories and the celebration of all things books this whole week. The annual celebration is dedicated to spreading joy, appreciation, and the importance of reading, authors and illustrators. Being transformed to an ‘imagined worlds’ the learners listened to a new story from Caryl Hart and Ed Eaves every day; from a supermarket zoo, riding polar bears and catching dragons.

Our learning spaces are always a print rich environment where we celebrate the written word, from aspiration quotes, to daily affirmations to our language arts writing workshops, and our guided reading sessions, not forgetting our phonics programme just to name a few. The learners are fulfilled in a variety of hands-on learning engagements such as sound or word bingo, identifying fiction and nonfiction books, independent writing and interpreting mathematical word problems. Language and print is present through all areas of learning and is an important part of a holistic curriculum.

The Year 2 teachers are passionate about instilling a lifelong love of reading in our learners! It is exciting to watch the learners’ development as they start to transition from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’ Learners develop their decoding skills, fluency, expression and comprehension through reading circles, independent and partner reading activities. They are also given the opportunity to explore their own interests, whether curling up on a sofa with a National Geographic Kids magazine, reading a nonfiction book in the reading corner or finding a cozy spot to read a favourite fiction book. This week we have thoroughly enjoyed Book Week. The learners had a story session with author, Emily Lim. She shared her wonderful story, "Tibby, The Tiger Bunny", and told us about her journey to become an author. We now have lots of inspiration for our next story!

With the relaxation of restrictions, we are so excited to have been able to start Reading Buddies again with learners in an older year group. The younger learners love having a big buddy to read to and the older learners relish the opportunity to be mentors. We are looking forward to watching these relationships develop over the remainder of this term.

In Year 3, the literacy program continues to support learners on their journey from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’ and finally onto developing a lifelong love of reading. As a year group, we expose the learners to a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, and explicitly teach the skills needed to become fluent readers with a strong comprehension of what they have read. We set up classroom and Year 3 libraries around the pod that have fiction books, non-fiction texts connected to our Unit of Inquiry, mother tongue language books as well as readers that are at the ‘just right’ level for learners to practise their reading skills. Every week, learners have opportunities to read in small groups, independently and with a buddy.

Book Week this week has been a lovely time to dive deeper into favourite books chosen by the learners. It has given them an opportunity to think more deeply about characters in the story and use their inference skills as they created character sketchbooks for the main characters. Going up to the 12th Floor to visit the Story Telling Room and listening to A.J Low, the author of the Sherlock Sam series, was a highlight and gave Year 3 some insight into the hard work and dedication involved in writing a book.

It is exciting to watch the progress made in reading and writing across the year group this year and to see many learners develop into passionate readers.

This week Year 4 set off on a trip to the Science Centre to look at forces and simple machines in action at the Science Centre. It was wonderful to see our learners enjoying learning in a different environment. A big 'Thank you!' to all parents who volunteered to help us on this trip.

Alongside starting our new Unit of Inquiry, 'Book Week' has given Year 4 learners the opportunity to focus on the importance of reading and books. In connection with our Book Week theme of 'Imagined Worlds' we have explored the story of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis. We have read extracts from the story, viewed the 'Chronicles of Narnia, considered characterisation and discussed the deeper messages within the book.

On Tuesday Year listened to a presentation by A.J. Low, the author of the 'Sherlock Sam' detective series. She inspired us with how she collaborated with her co-author to develop the characters and settings in her books and how plots evolve. Our learners had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the process authors adopt to create novels. 'How do you become a writer?' asked one of our Year 4 learners. 'By reading, reading, reading!' was A.J. Low's response.

In Year 5 learners are immersed in reading for learning and reading for fun. Learners have recently shown so much agency in our Literature Circles reading time. They chose the book they would like to read and used collaborative meeting times to share and discuss the meaning of their story. Together the group decided on their reading deadline and the roles of each group member. The discussion director lead each meeting and invited other members to contribute with learning from their roles. These included illustrator, predictor, word wizard, literary luminary and summariser. Literature Circles is a great opportunity for developing all of the PYP Approaches to Learning. It has been fantastic to observe growth as confident communicators, critical thinkers, mindful listeners and self managers.

Book Week is always a highlight of the school year. Our classes have visited the beautifully decorated 'Forest Wonderland' where they enjoyed reading as a class or with their reading buddy class. As restrictions have allowed, we are so excited to join Year 2 and 3 for reading buddies. This inclusive approach helps to build relationships and a love for reading. Reading is such a great way to inquire into our UOI central idea 'Exploration expands human understanding'. Our school library is a treasure trove that takes our learners on wonderful adventures and journeys. Where will you go next?

Mathematics, Language Arts and the sciences will all be elements which will allow our learners to dig deeply into their issue. We have already begun by emailing different experts who will help us on our way, as well as finding the answers to initial questions which will also guide us on our inquiry. We will also be giving the learners a brain break as they continue their stand alone mathematics curriculum.

You can help by having a weekly check in with your child. As Ms Fiona suggested, use the coaching model, where you ask... don't tell, and allow the learners to find their own way forward. Also help them to find an 'External Mentor', someone who they can have a more in depth conversation with at least once per week, if not more often. It may by a member of your family, or someone who is a trusted adult. It is a wonderful opportunity to make connections and communicate with someone you may have been separated from during the pandemic.

It is a very exciting time for us all. Please remember that if you would like to join us on Fridays from 11:00am to 12:00 noon in the years 6 space, email your teacher so we are able to give your names to learner services and send a guide down to meet you.

The Year 6 Team.