Assemblies at Tottenhall Infant School instil a sense of belonging and motivate children towards making the best of the opportunities the school has to offer. During this time we work together as a community to develop our core values. Assemblies provide the opportunity for children to develop their confidence by speaking up and sharing their ideas.

During our assemblies we reflect on moral and spiritual issues, we celebrate achievement and we give thanks. Children may be withdrawn from assembly on religious grounds. Parents should contact the Headteacher if this is necessary.

During each term year groups put on a small production usually based on current work and lasting approximately 15 minutes. You will be invited to your child’s class assembly.

The development of children’s language is crucial to their success across the curriculum. We want pupils to be excellent communicators, to listen actively and to speak with confidence. At Tottenhall Infant School pupils are helped to develop a love of reading and become skilful imaginative writers. Each year group has statutory elements of English which have to be covered. These involve fundamental elements of English such as reading, comprehension, composition, spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Our Approach to Reading

Reading is a key and vital skill for our pupils to be able to access the breadth of the curriculum at Tottenhall Infant School. It is a key contributor towards children’s language and communication development as well as improving children’s vocabulary. Reading leads to more highly developed language skills and improves the child’s ability to write well and communicate in a range of contexts and forms.

In addition, reading is a fun and imaginative time for children, which opens doors to all kinds of new worlds for them. The reading curriculum at our school teaches children about the world around them. Through reading a variety of books our children learn about people, places, and events outside of their own experience. As a school we have ensured that we have a range of books and reading materials for children to access and design the curriculum around issues that matter to them such as recycling, friendships, planting and the natural environment.

Being able to read improves children’s concentration, self-esteem and empathy. As children develop, they begin to imagine how they would feel in that situation, place or event.

We understand that reading promotes achievement in all subjects, not just English. Children who are good readers tend to achieve better across the curriculum. We believe this is crucial in improving the life chances of our pupils. The curriculum is adapted to meet the needs of all learners where they are able to make progress and access learning.

All classrooms have inviting reading corners, with fiction and non- fiction books, and dual language texts. Books are sent home frequently. Across the school a reading record book is maintained to encourage a home school partnership. Children have access to a range of appropriate book banded texts to read both at home and school. These books are well matched to children’s phonic knowledge to allow them to make good progress. In order to foster the love of reading we organise termly visits to the local library for children, have a STOP and READ session for the whole school once a week, have a focus author of the month and opportunities for children to listen to adults read. We empower our children by ensuring reading skills and opportunities intersect all areas of the curriculum.

Phonics

 At Tottenhall Infant School we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. It is a complete teaching programme meeting all the expectations of the National Curriculum and prepares children to go beyond the expectations of the Phonics Screening Check.

This is a systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children starting in the nursery, with the aim of them becoming fluent readers by age seven. It is a recognised synthetic phonics scheme where children first learn their letter sounds and names, and then apply these to word building. The children will also learn a variety of other key words by sight.

Reading in class

In reception children have a weekly guided reading session using texts that are clearly matched to their phonic level.

In year KS1 children are taught reading through guided reading sessions using texts that matched to children’s phonic levels and reading fluency. Children are expected to use their skills to discuss books, vocabulary, authors, share opinions and answer a range of verbal and written comprehension questions.

How you can help your child with reading

We always value the support parents give their child at home. Please ensure your child is reading every day and leave a comment in their reading record. You can also visit the local library and remember to attend our reading workshops and half termly ‘Read with your Child’ drop in. Your child will have access to ‘Cracking Comprehension’ on-line starting in the second half of the autumn term and texts will be changed every half term.

The support parents give to their children at home by speaking and listening to them and hearing them read is greatly valued by the school. Parents can have a positive effect on homework completion and help children to develop effective learning habits. As well as home reading texts practical learning activities will also be set to support the learning taking place in the classroom. Those pupils who are at the early stages of reading and developing fluency will have specific texts to match their phonic knowledge and level.

Mathematics at Tottenhall Infant School teaches children how to make sense of the world around them through developing their ability to calculate, reason and solve problems. Children will learn mathematics, and mathematical language, through a balance of written and practical work such as sorting, classifying, ordering everyday objects and understanding number, leading to more recording and investigational mathematics.

In our school we actively promote the British Values, as defined by the Government, in order to prepare all children to be responsible and respectful members of the community. We promote the following British values at Tottenhall Infant School;

• democracy
• the rule of law
• individual liberty
• mutual respect
• tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

Pupils will encounter these principles throughout everyday school life. This is also supported through our “Values Puppets”: Connie Confidence, Pete Persistence, Oscar Organisation, Gabby Get Along and Ricky Resilience.

Computers play a vital role in the modern world, and many of even the most basic jobs involve technology and computers. We want our pupils to be equipped with using computational thinking and creativity to be able to access, understand and change the world around them.

Every class has an interactive touchscreen board used for whole class teaching. Each class also has two touch screen computers used to enhance communication and collaboration. The pupils have access to iPads and use them to make films, write stories, and deepen their computing knowledge.

Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are the main religions present within Tottenhall Infant School. Every child learns about these religions by listening, discussing relevant stories and celebrating the relevant festivals. Artifacts are used to explain the different practices and customs which are particular to each religion.