English
At Whitefield Infant School, language acquisition is paramount to ensuring children access the whole curriculum effectively. We strive to be good role models as we interact with children and value quality dialogue. The use of first hand experiences, quality texts across the curriculum and artists work further develops children’s understanding of questioning, language and builds up a purposeful and meaningful vocabulary.
We are a reading school. We instill a love of reading in our children through providing them with daily opportunities to read and tell stories with adults and peers. A systematic approach to teaching phonics ensures children develop fluency and confidence in reading and spelling.
An example of a class poem created in Reception, inspired by a piece of art by David Hockney.
An example of a class poem written in Year 1, inspired by a piece of art by Duffy.
An example of a class poem created in Year 2, inspired by a piece of art by Sonia Delauney.
Modelled writing in Year 1
Writing outcomes in Spring term Year 1 which show the sequence of learning
Modelled writing in Year 2
World Book Day
Thank you to everyone who took part in our World Book Day 'make a recycled bookmark' competition. We had so many wonderful entries, the class teachers really struggled to pick a winner! Our winners received a new book, however all our children will receive a £1 book token that can be used to buy a new book in a local book store.
During 'World Book Day' children participated in an online zoom story telling session with Burnley Youth Theatre and many other schools in the local area. Children loved listening to the interactive story and engaging in the activities. We continue to support Burnley Youth Theatre by having a drama specialist in school every Friday.
Writing is modelled by the teachers and displayed on our learning lines to support children's learning.
Our classroom environments support children's vocabulary development and helps them with their writing.
Texts in our classrooms and around school are carefully chosen to support children's learning across the curriculum.
Year 2 have emailed the author of 'Mr Wolf and the Three Bears', Jan Fearnley some of their creative writing.
Phonics areas in all classrooms allow children to practice and apply their phonics skills throughout the day.
Reading, writing and storytelling opportunities in the EYFS
Goldilocks says sorry!
Teacher demonstration of writing throughout the school shows a build up of skills.
Story telling in Year 2
Year 2 worked with story teller and artist, Creeping Toad, to create and plan their own adventure stories based on Chris Judge's stories, 'The Great Explorer' and 'The Lonely Beast'.
Children found objects in the forest school that their explorer might need.
They created a camp for their explorer to keep safe.
Then children planned a problem their explorer might encounter and recorded their ideas on a story map.
Rosy's Lost Jewels by Faizah
The Lost Friend by Sahil
The Lonely Toothfairy by Alishbah
We Are Reading Project
Our Year 2 children have been involved in a project with the Year 5 children from Lomeshaye Junior School. Here are some of the letters the children wrote to one another.
Letters from Year 5 children
Replies from our Year 2 children to Year 5
We Are Reading Project
We enjoy reading for pleasure at Whitefield. We love our reading shed to enjoy stories at playtimes
Year 2 have been lucky this week to have a Year 6 pupil in school to help with our learning. Tia shared a lovely story with the children during story time.
Year 2 Fire of London Poetry
World Book Day
Each child designed a headband to represent their favourite book or character. Below are just a selection of the fantastic headbands children and their families created. Thank you to all the children and families who took part in World Book Day.
Share a Story for World Book Day
Class 4's Creative Story-telling
Class 7 told stories in the snow!
Class 1 had a cosy story time in the cloakroom!
Class 8 shared stories in the library
Nursery shared the story of 'We're going on a bear hunt'
Congratulations to our writers of the month
Examples of next step marking
Progression in writing across the school
Children are given daily opportunities to read for pleasure.
At Whitefield Infant School we are all story tellers! Can you guess which stories we are learning by looking at our doorways to learning?
Story telling in Nursery
The Nursery classroom provides many opportunities for children to tell stories.
Children in Nursery use mark making to record their stories.
Story telling in Reception
Shared writing in Reception
Opportunities to write with independence
Story telling in Year 1
Story telling in Year 2
Story telling stones are used to allow children to create their own stories and use their imagination.
Teacher demonstration of writing in Year 2
English learning walls are used throughout school to develop children's skills and support their writing.
Year 2 visited Nelson Library to watch a performance of 'The Boy who Steals Christmas'. We learnt all about the Lancashire Reading Trail and received information about how to become members of Nelson Library.
Please ask your child's class teacher if you would like some more information about joining the Lancashire Reading Trail.
Collaborative, creative learning to build a story map
Reception have been learning the story of 'The Shark in the Park'
Live learning in Year 1 linked to their key text 'Lost and Found'
Progression in handwriting across the school
Year 2 learnt that literacy was a lot different in Victorian times
Play in a Day
Year 2 created a 'play in a day' around their topic of The Great Fire of London. The children did amazingly well to create a performance in one day and learnt lots of facts and information about our topic. Thank you to all the families who came to watch their performance.
Literacy through the Arts
All the children love going to our school library
