Reading & Phonics
Phonics
We teach phonics and early reading skills using the letters and sounds approach. You may have heard this referred to as Synthetic Phonics. Synthetic phonics is the breaking down of words into their separate sound components known as phonemes. Phonemes can consist of more than one letter for example ch, oo, er, igh etc. In our teaching we discuss elements such as:
Digraphs: these are two letters making a single sound eg: ar, ee, ou etc.
Trigraphs are three letters making a single sound eg: igh.
A grapheme is a phoneme written down.
Segmenting is where you break each word into its separate phoneme, for example ‘chop’ has 3 phonemes, ch/o/p. Blending is simply putting those sounds back together to form a word. Some words in the English language cannot be broken down into separate phonemes. These words are known as tricky words and we teach the children to be able to read and know the whole word, for example, ‘said’ or ‘what’. There are 6 phases within Letters & Sounds and most children will complete Phase 6 by the end of Year 2, however this can continue into Year 3 if required. To help parents to support their children at home you may find the leaflet from Redcar Local Authority useful.
It is also vital that the correct pronunciation is used for each phoneme.
This video will help you in supporting your child’s correct sound pronunciation.
We teach phonics and early reading skills using the letters and sounds approach. You may have heard this referred to as Synthetic Phonics. Synthetic phonics is the breaking down of words into their separate sound components known as phonemes. Phonemes can consist of more than one letter for example ch, oo, er, igh etc. In our teaching we discuss elements such as:
Digraphs: these are two letters making a single sound eg: ar, ee, ou etc.
Trigraphs are three letters making a single sound eg: igh.
A grapheme is a phoneme written down.
Segmenting is where you break each word into its separate phoneme, for example ‘chop’ has 3 phonemes, ch/o/p. Blending is simply putting those sounds back together to form a word. Some words in the English language cannot be broken down into separate phonemes. These words are known as tricky words and we teach the children to be able to read and know the whole word, for example, ‘said’ or ‘what’. There are 6 phases within Letters & Sounds and most children will complete Phase 6 by the end of Year 2, however this can continue into Year 3 if required. To help parents to support their children at home you may find the leaflet from Redcar Local Authority useful.
It is also vital that the correct pronunciation is used for each phoneme.
This video will help you in supporting your child’s correct sound pronunciation.
Maths

Below you will find useful information, methods and examples of the way we teach maths here at Shipley.
The first booklet is all about Numicon, which is a tool we use for the 4 maths operations: adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. This resource is first used in Reception but has a continued use throughout the school. The booklet explains this and has suggestions for its use at home.
The second booklet is our progression in calculation booklet. This sets out how we teach the 4 operations and how they progress through the years. There are examples of methods taught and explanations of methods that may have changed over recent years.
The first booklet is all about Numicon, which is a tool we use for the 4 maths operations: adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. This resource is first used in Reception but has a continued use throughout the school. The booklet explains this and has suggestions for its use at home.
The second booklet is our progression in calculation booklet. This sets out how we teach the 4 operations and how they progress through the years. There are examples of methods taught and explanations of methods that may have changed over recent years.
Music and Sport |
|
Music has an important role in Shipley School as we strongly believe it encourages self-discipline, motivation and self-esteem, and gives children tremendous enjoyment.Every child takes part in regular singing, including the acts of worship in school and in the Church. We also take part in the annual Weald Music festival for Years 5 and 6. Performances by visiting musicians are a regular feature of school life.

Quality provision of PE is a high priority. The School has the School Games Gold Award. Teachers work alongside sports coaches and external providers to ensure that children are active and can develop their core skills and fitness for a healthy lifestyle. There are a wide range of after school clubs to support this, from ballet to mountain biking, lego to basketball, art to choir.
"The curriculum is effective. Pupils gain expertise in a broad range of subjects. No opportunity is missed to make connections between subjects and topics so as to deepen pupils' understanding ."
OFSTED 2018