Wimborne First School Prospectus

Our great outdoors Our outside play environment is a very special part of the School. It has been redeveloped to support and inspire learning and includes a large playground and extensive playing field where, weather permitting, pupils participate in a range of sports including athletics, football, netball and rounders. During the summer term, pupils eat picnic lunches and play there during lunchtimes. We have a school pond to further enhance the science/ outdoor learning in the curriculum. As a school, we value ecology, recycling and energy consumption and our pupils get first hand experience in planting flowers, fruit and vegetables. Literacy Reading is the most important skill that children need to master at school. It is the necessary condition for all learning. The more a child reads, the more new words they come across and the more they will think and talk about the ideas and concepts that these words generate. Children learn to read at a quicker pace when they are taught systematically and intensively using synthetic phonics. Synthetic phonics is simply the ability to convert a letter or a group of letters into sounds that are then blended together into a word. We have introduced a phonics programme called Read, Write, Inc. This is a fun, fast paced, vibrant and dynamic scheme and its highly structured and systematic approach has had a positive impact for our children with both their reading and writing in the younger years. In Key Stage 2 we aim to continue to develop pupils’ reading and writing in all subjects to support their acquisition of knowledge. Pupils are taught to read fluently, read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts and are encouraged to read for pleasure. ‘‘ Pupils become engrossed in learning during lessons because teaching is engaging ’’ says ... 7