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At Glebe, English is taught through the use of high quality, language rich texts (see images below). The texts are used to engage and motivate children in their learning and also enables children to deepen their understanding of texts and provides a meaningful context for writing. These texts are used both within English sessions and Guided Reading sessions. They are used as the basis for learning over several weeks to allow them to immerse themselves within the text. Where possible, we link texts and films with current topics. For example, Year 2 uses Vlad and the Great Fire, when learning about the The Great Fire of London in history. In Year 6, when looking at Crime and Punishment they look at Oliver Twist.

English Whole School Overview:

The books have been highlighted in different colours to reflect the genre of work that the children will complete based around the book. 

  • Blue -non-fiction.
  • Green - fiction.
  • Pink - play scripts.
  • Grey - poetry.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Pupil Voice:

We strongly value the opinions of our pupils and conduct interviews with them to find out their opinions. Please click the links below to find out what our pupils have to say.

Do you enjoy reading?

Nursery - I like the 'Boy Who Said No' because he turns into a boy who said yes.

Reception Girl - Yes, because they sometimes have funny pictures.

Year 1 Girl -Yes, I like sounding out tricky words and I can learn.

Year 1 Boy -Yes, because I learn new stuff.

Year 2 Girl - I love reading, I read all the time. My favourite book is 'The Worst Witch'.

Year 2 Boy- I love reading. I read loads at home. I love adventure stories. Me and my sister like Tom Fletcher.

Year 3 Girl- Sometimes- some books are interesting like Roald Dahl. Some are too short. I like longer stories.

Year 4 BoyYes. I like reading lots of different books.

Year 4 Girl- Yes, definitely! I learn lots of words and it helps me with my vocabulary. I like Roald Dahl, David Walliams & Harry Potter.

Year 4 Boy- Yes. I like 'Dragon Mountain' that I’m reading right now. I love dragons.

Year 5 Girl- Yes. It makes me picture an image in my mind. It’s interesting. I like non-fiction books and 'A Diary of a Wimpy Kid'.

Year 5 Boy- Yes. I really like Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series especially.

Year 6 Girl- Yes especially mystery stories.

Year 6 Boy- Yes. I love reading mystery books and ones where they explore things.

What do you love about reading at Glebe?

Nursery - I like looking at a book with my friends.

Reception Girl - I love sitting in the book corner. I love 'Elmer'.

Reception Boy- Reading about Sid. I like 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and making stuff.

Year 1 Girl - I love it when we get time to choose our own books. 

Year 1 Boy - I like it when my teacher reads to us, as he reads slowly so I can understand it.

Year 2 Girl - I like it when I am able to read with my friends. We have lots of books in the book corner.

Year 2 Boy- I like reading here as there are totally different books here. Me and my friends read a lot to each other.  

Year 3 Boy- I like the books in my classroom and from the library.

Year 4 Girl- I like that we have so many books here we can choose from. I especially like the fairy books we have in class. In one of the books, there’s a fairy which looks like me. I like seeing people like me. It’s like I’m in the book. It makes me happy.

Year 4 Boy- I don’t know but we can chose our own books. I like the fact we can read our books as a treat and read with our teacher. I like it when she reads to us like 'The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe'.

Year 5 Girl- The books are really different; there’s a big variety so you can always find what you’re looking for.

Year 5 Boy- To be honest I like to read more at home.

Year 6 Girl- There’s a great selection of books in our reading corner. I spend ages trying to choose what to read.

Year 6 Boy- I like the variety of books in our reading corners and the library; you can find things like 'War Horse', fantasy books, fact books all of sorts of things really.

How are you challenged during guided reading lessons?

Year 1 Boy - Sometimes there are new words that I don't know. 

Year 2 Girl - Sometimes we have new words and we have to work out what they mean. 

Year 2 Boy- Sometimes there are some unexpected words there but we sound them out and we learn what they mean. I like having new words I can use.

Year 3 Girl- I don’t know. I think they’re average hardness.

Year 3 Boy- Some of the activities like when you have to sort the words into the right zone because of how relevant they are to the character.

Year 4 Girl- When we have to give reasons. You have to explain why you think you’re right.

Year 4 Boy- We get lots of words we don’t know or understand in the books but we then learn what they mean.

Year 5 Girl- You might have to define a word or find a synonym. We do different skills all the time so we have to keep thinking. The texts are too - like we did 'The Hobbit', as there’s lots of things that happen in the story.

Year 5 Boy- We have different sorts of questions and skills like inference. We always have to back up our opinions & the texts aren’t easy like 'The Hobbit'.

Year 6 Girl- There’s always different subjects and different skills we have to use. It’s never exactly the same thing so it keeps you thinking. Also, looking at different author’s techniques and how they show different things or create effects like personification or how they persuade.

Year 6 Boy- Then vocabulary is challenging in the books we read. PEE is also hard as we have to find the evidence to back up our points but then we have to explain why it proves our point. That can be really hard sometimes.

How is Reading For Pleasure promoted at Glebe?

Year 1 Boy - We do lots of reading. We have to sometimes fill in bookmarks (for reading competitions).

Year 2 Girl - We read with the whole class. We sometimes do reading competitions and I always enter these. 

Year 2 Boy- Me and my friend read to each other. My teacher reads us a story and I like that a lot. Sometimes, it’s what we’re working on so when we were learning about Australia she read us a story about wombats. I liked that story. We have challenges like the Extreme Reading Challenge- I read upside down. We talk about reading a lot. My teacher likes reading and there’s things on the wall to help us with reading.

Year 3 Boy- We have fun activities. We have lots of books in school. My teacher reads to us a lot. She says she likes reading. We have our own book corner. We sometimes read to a buddy.

Year 4 Girl- I get a chance to read her a lot, which I like. My teacher does lots of silly voices, which is funny. We have big book shelves for a Reading Corner. I’ve done some of the reading challenges like the Christmas one and the Extreme Reading one and we’ve just had World Book day. We did fun activities all about reading all day.

Year 4 Boy- We can read our own books to ourselves. I’d like more of that. Our teacher reads to us often. She does lots of voices and then has to drink a lot of water. We’ve had reading challenges too.

Year 5 Girl- Lots of different books. Every classroom has a Reading Corner and has some factual and some fiction. We have Reading challenges like the 12 Reads of Christmas and Extreme Reading. We do World Book Day, even in Lockdown. Last year, I was Miss Trunchbull and Mr M was a dinosaur. We have reading buddies and we turned every door into a book cover; that was cool.

Year 5 Boy- There’s displays. Our Reading Corner has lots of different types of books. Our teacher reads to us and enjoys it. In Lockdown, we still celebrated World Book Day with fun activities to do with reading. Last year, we dressed up as book characters we didn’t this year but we are later in Reading Week but we haven’t done that yet.

Year 6 Girl- We can have our books out and with us throughout the day to read. Lots of people were interested in scary books so Mr C has read to us 'Room 13', which I really like as it’s got good cliff hangers. There’s Reading Corners and a library. The teachers show us they enjoy reading too and we talk about our favourite books and are asked to recommend books to other people in the class.

Year 6 Boy- By the book corners, the variety of books and the amount. My teacher says reading is fun and important, which is true. My teacher reads to us at least 3 times a week - if not more - and we can we read to each other, which I like.

Do you enjoy English? Why?

Nursery - Yes. I like to draw everything. I like drawing bunnies.

Reception Boy - Yes. English is fun.

Reception Girl - Yes. I really like writing. 

Year 1 Girl - Yes. We had to act out the fairytale.

Year 1 Boy - Yes, because we get to do fun stuff.

Year 2 Girl - Yes, because writing is really fun. I like to write on my own at home too.

Year 2 Boy- It was hard at home but I like it here as it’s easier. The teacher always helps you and the teachers knows all about it.

Year 3 Girl- Yes. I like writing. I like all sorts of writing but writing stories is my favourite.

Year 3 Boy- Yes I really like writing stories and when we make up our own.

Year 4 Girl- Yes because the lessons are fun and interesting. Sometimes, we get to pretend we’re different characters and you have to think what it would feel like if you were them. I like drama activities like that.

Year 4 Boy- It depends on what it is. I enjoy it when I’m proud of myself and I like it when it’s exciting or funny.

Year 5 Girl- I love English, as I like writing. My work turns into my own book. I like being an author.

Yr 5 Boy- Sometimes. I like creative writing. I prefer it to non-fiction, as you can let your imagination run wild.

Year 6 Girl- I do because I’ve got really good at writing in the last 2 years and I now write stories at home, I write about my day and I’ve started writing songs. I really liked writing 'Alma'.

Year 6 Boy- Yes. I love creative writing especially setting descriptions. I love Write Offs: I can turn it into whatever I want (within reason).  I like exploring words and phrases instead of just writing "rosy cheeks” you can write a paragraph or a phrase depending on the effect you want.

What is the most interesting lesson you had in English this year & why?

Reception Boy - I liked 'Dear Zoo' because I like animals.

Reception Girl - We did 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. It was fun.

Year 1 Girl - We watched a short film of a little boy and his grandpa and they were making a machine to make clouds. We had to think about making our own machine to make clouds.

Year 1 Boy - I liked making fruit kebabs (in instructional unit) because they were so tasty.

Year 2 Girl - I like doing 'The Worst Witch' because the story was really fun and we had our own book. 

Year 2 Boy: I’ve really liked 'The Great Fire of London' story writing. It was really fun writing as if you’re there.

Year 3 Girl –I liked 'Fantastic Mr Fox' at the start of the year and I liked the story with 'The Ice Palace' and now we’re writing a story about the Stone Age.

Year 3 Boy- 'The Stone Age Story'. We’re doing it now; it’s really cool and we can put different creatures in it.

Year 4 Girl- We had to use our 5 senses after watching an animation of a volcano erupting. You had to think what it would be like if you were there, which would’ve been scary. We’re going to write a story like 'Escape From Pompeii'.

Year 4 Boy- When I was writing about 'The Iron Man' and the Romans.

Year 5 Girl- I love 'Storm Breaker'- you don’t know what’s going to happen next in the story. I enjoyed creating and writing about my spy gadget. I liked the report about the Tree Giants and making up their different features.

Year 5 Boy- What we’re doing now about spies. I like the spies stuff and Alex Rider and the book is really good as well. We’re building up to writing a letter of apology for when Alex accidentally shot the Prime Minister. That’s really funny!

Year 6 Girl- I really liked researching my Jaguar for my non-chronological report and I loved writing the spooky setting in 'Alma'.

Year 6 Boy- I loved 'Alma'. I like learning about how to make my writing eerie. I really enjoyed the WW1 poem and the Flashback story of 'The Christmas Truce' because it takes you through the different moods in 1 piece of writing; from the worst things you could imagine to some of the best.

What would you do if you’re stuck in an English lesson?

Reception Boy - Use my phonics strip. Ask a teacher.

Reception Girl - Use my phonics strip.

Year 1 Girl - I would look at the board. We also have a phonics strip.

Year 1 Boy - I would talk to my friend but I don't ask them the answer.

Year 2 Girl - First I ask my partner. I might ask my teacher but they don't do the work for us.

Year 2 Boy: First, look at the board, as we have lots of things on there. If that doesn’t help me, I’ll look in my book & if that doesn’t help I’d ask my friend and that doesn’t help I’d ask the teacher. It’s good to learn how to do it yourself not just ask the teacher.

Year 3 Girl – I would check my book and look at the board; it be explained or have useful words. Then, I would ask the teacher.

Year 3 Boy- Ask someone around me and then ask the teacher. My criteria really helps me. We’ve just stuck one in 2 minutes ago. It tells you things to add in like time adverbs.

Year 4 Girl- I would ask my friend and then a teacher. I could also look back in my book at yesterday’s lesson- that would help.

Year 4 Boy- Ask my friends or the teacher.

Year 5 Girl- I would use wordbanks on my table or the person next to me or my teacher.

Year 5 boy- I would use my 6Bs. There’s lots of things in your book and on the wall and you can get a buddy to help you and then your teacher.

Year 6 Girl- I would get a thesaurus, if I was stuck on a word – I like finding new words. I would look back through my book and see if there was anything there. I would look at the wordbanks we’ve been given but I’d check and see if I’ve used those words too much and then look in the thesaurus for another one and use my criteria too.

Year 6 Boy- I would use the 6Bs – whatever’s appropriate for the task. The working wall always is specific to the piece of writing like 'Alma', 'Rock Paper Scissors' with some good words we can use. The Handy Hints are good as there’s lots in there to help you if you’re stuck like Alan Peat's how to start your sentences and it makes your work not boring.

What type of feedback (e.g marking form the teacher, support from a friend, advice from the teacher etc) is most useful and why?

Year 1 Girl - I like it when my teacher writes in my book so I can see how I did. 

Year 1 Boy - I like it when my teacher writes in my book, as he writes in red and it is my favourite colour.

Year 2 Girl - I like it when I am given a next step because I can then complete it. I like it when my friend helps me, as we can then work together.

Year 2 Boy- I like talking about my ideas and my partner’s ideas, as it’s easier to understand how to improve what you’ve done.

Year 3 Girl- The teacher writing in my book, as she writes what I need to improve. I can then read it again. When she tells me, I can forget so I prefer it in my book to check against.

Year 3 Boy- When my teacher writes it in my book. I don’t mind her telling me but it can stop me remembering what I was going to do so I like it afterwards.

Year 4 Girl- Me first of all looking at my criteria and checking it & marking it myself. Then, I like my friends and my teacher writing in my book as I trust them. I can go back then and make it better.

Year 4 Boy- The teacher writing in my book. She spots the most mistakes but she asks really good and fun questions to help me think and you can’t just write yes or no.

Year 5 Girl- I like it written in my book so I can go back and improve my work and make it the best it can be.

Year 5 Boy- The advice is useful but so is when your partner marks your work; they have good ideas too and actually the bit from the teacher in your book tells you what to improve so that helps as well.

Year 6 Girl- When the teacher gives me advice during the lesson, the same for my friend, as I can change it then and there but I do like reading the comments and going back to my work with a fresh pair of eyes.

Year 6 Boy- Advice from the teacher. It can be added in straight after you’ve written it and I can remember it better.

How do you know if you have been successful?

Year 1 Girl - I read my sentences again to check it. The teacher ticks the success criteria.

Year 1 Boy - I look at my teacher's marking.

Year 2 Girl - My teacher ticks my work. We tick off our success criteria so I can look at that.

Year 2 Boy- The teacher shows us the LO on the board and have to think if we got it right. Sometimes in your book, you can look back at your work to see if this is right. We use success criteria a lot.

Year 3 Girl- Sometimes my teacher writes good work. Sometimes, I check my work myself.

Year 3 Boy- My teacher tells us in our books. We’re asked to check and read it again and look at the criteria.

Year 4 Girl- I understand it well & I can write and write. I know I’ve got everything from my criteria. Then, my teacher writes a comment about what’s good and what I need to improve.

Year 4 Boy- We have success criteria. I don’t check it as much as I should but my teacher does and then she tells me.

Year 5 Girl- My teacher marks my book, my peer marks my work and I mark my work checking the success criteria. I can check to see if I’ve included everything.

Year 5 Boy- The teacher or your partner tells you it is. If you read it yourself and it makes sense then you know. You also need to check your criteria and if you’ve missed anything out you should probably put that in as it’s the guidelines of your work. Then you know if you’re successful yourself.

Year 6 Girl- I’ve checked my work against the criteria. I’ve edited it and revised it  (you can see that in my green biro) but I’ll still try to improve it to make it even better.

Year 6 Boy- I get ticks by my LO. My teacher comments. I’ve used cups and arms to improve bits that I’ve greened and I pink my work, where it’s worked well. When I read it out loud, it makes sense and my tongue doesn’t get tied it’s successful.

Useful websites

Website/App subscriptions:

  • Phonics: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ (username : jan21  password:home)
  • J2e: This website includes spell blast where you can practise the weekly spellings. It also has j2write where your child can use specific apps for KS1 & KS2 to engage your child with writing. (Teachers have assigned your child a specific password to use these. Please contact them if you are unsure of yours). https://www.j2e.com/

Useful websites: