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20/01/25

Sausage rolls and fruit kebabs made at cooking club tonight! Delicious!#HealthEating pic.twitter.com/KS6ujSQOVx

20/01/25

Year 5 were absolutely thrilled to receive a reply from school and hear about the difference their art work, cards and money raised has made to the staff and children. pic.twitter.com/nfuINU5syg

17/01/25

Year 6 created fantastic mood boards in Art using a range of resources. These really helped develop their ideas for the WW2 propaganda posters they are going to make. pic.twitter.com/ZiqjFwBOVA

13/01/25

At lunch today, Luna and Victoria drew a fantastic diagram of our solar system on the chalkboards and gave a group of younger children a quick Science lesson! Well done, girls, for sharing your excellent subject knowledge! pic.twitter.com/t5noUVriFx

10/01/25

Excellent map work and geographical skills in Year 2 day. The children loved trying a range of French foods whilst exploring facts about France in their country study. pic.twitter.com/xhmKRi4ATz

10/01/25

We were thrilled to see so many children in KS1 earning their Basil Bear for 100 reads today. Such great commitment to their daily reading! pic.twitter.com/rWvzoWS2CP

07/01/25

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed their science workshop this morning. They learnt a lot about optical illusions and chemical reactions. pic.twitter.com/fZE6JHvaNF

06/01/25

Year 5 had a great learning launch for their topic of space this term. We even tried space food! pic.twitter.com/K9iaIWEzxl

20/12/24

Year 3 making their moving monsters with a pneumatic system in DT this week! pic.twitter.com/pFhywnBqRM

20/12/24

Yesterday, Year 3 was joined by a WaterAid volunteer. The children saw how the money they raised will help people all across the world. Thank you for delivering the assembly to our children. pic.twitter.com/MUpcvSFAWc

20/12/24

We all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner cooked by Amanda and our Cucina team and we had crackers provided by our amazing PTA. Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/7Rt0JmjJIl

19/12/24

Year 5 are so proud of their artwork raising £137 for . We are sending some Christmas cards and Lino prints to the hospital to thank their staff and hopefully bring some Christmas joy to the children. pic.twitter.com/aVXp6xELfj

13/12/24

EYFS have raised over £100 for the Salvation Army’s Be a Star Christmas campaign by baking and decorating biscuits this week. pic.twitter.com/ySQOcuYpIH

13/12/24

Our choir visited Bradbury House in the RBLI village and sang some lovely Christmas songs for the residents. pic.twitter.com/SLp0F6kmai

13/12/24

Gymnastics results are in! Special shout out to the following children: Alarna - 1st place UKS2 🥇 Sofia - 2nd place UKS2 🥈 Mia - 3rd place UKS2 🥉 Zeynep - 3rd place UKS2 🥉 All teams placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd out of 7 schools. Well done Aylesford! pic.twitter.com/Ouuvm6sAf3

13/12/24

Year 4 had lots of fun in science this week finding out whether materials are conductors or insulators. pic.twitter.com/9Z5vdBjyDR

12/12/24

Year 2 have learned so much about cooking in DT this term. They showed an impressive range of skills to bake their flatbreads and make dips to go with them. They absolutely loved eating the finished products too! pic.twitter.com/G78AizSkCI

12/12/24

Amazing concentration in our DT lesson in Year 2. The children have developed their cutting, chopping and slicing skills ready to make their healthy snacks. pic.twitter.com/XmUJIxPmsG

12/12/24

Despite the wet weather on Tuesday, Year 3 still completed their sponsored walk for . Thank you to everyone who has donated. If you would still like to donate the link is below! https://t.co/yNVQGJncBd Every penny is very much appreciated. pic.twitter.com/r0N2cSY5qC

10/12/24

SANTA DASH 2024 🎅🏻 Thanks to our parents, staff and friends and a brilliant effort from all of our children, we managed to raise a huge £796 for Crisis! pic.twitter.com/5hzURetvRy

10/12/24

Year 3 loved observing different types of soils in Science. We looked at the texture and appearance! pic.twitter.com/ujXnb1n5nh

09/12/24

We are all working hard to improve our vocabulary and Ewan in Year 3 used our Word Of The Week in his writing and received his prize in assembly. So far we have had spontaneous, propelled and surprise. pic.twitter.com/vO8ru4xhMX

09/12/24

Thank you so much to for our blind football resources. The children will absolutely love using these as part of our drive for sport for all. pic.twitter.com/1Le7BiCcb1

06/12/24

Aylesford’s amazing Santa Dash fundraising for Crisis at Christmas. So proud of everyone who took part and supported. pic.twitter.com/J76DvHxq6I

English

100 books to read before you leave primary school

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford we believe that it is every child’s right to be able to access the world around them through the medium of language. As such, we promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, enabling them to listen, speak, read and write confidently for a wide range of purposes throughout their school years and beyond. We recognise that it is important to cultivate an enthusiasm and appreciation for literacy and aspire to do so by ensuring real-life and cross-curricular learning experiences.

Aims

The English Curriculum at Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
  • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.
  • are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Spoken Language 

At Aylesford, we recognise the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. We nurture the development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills by providing a range of opportunities for children to speak and listen for different purposes and audiences. The teaching of spoken language is underpinned throughout all other areas of the curriculum.

Reading

We are a reading school and aim to instil a love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We believe that it is every child’s right to learn to read and we hope that many children go beyond this and develop a love and passion for reading. Staff act as reading role-models and children have access to a wide range of quality texts both in the class libraries and the main school library. Through reading, pupils at Aylesford have opportunities to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Our reading teaching focuses on developing pupils’ competence in the two dimensions:

  • word reading (decoding - taught through Read Write Inc phonics)
  • fluency (speed of reading)
  • comprehension (both listening and reading)  

At Aylesford, all children are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction genres to develop their knowledge of themselves. Through daily reading, we aim to feed our pupils’ imaginations and open up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious minds. Reading is taught in discrete phonic sessions (one-to-one with a teacher or teaching assistant) and through whole class reading lessons. In addition to this, there are daily timetabled sessions to develop independent and sustained reading skills.

Through termly teacher assessments, each child is tracked ensuring that they are being supported and challenged at the appropriate level.

Writing

Children develop a joy for writing from the emergent writing in the Foundation Stage to the accomplished and confident writers that leave our school. At Aylesford, our English teaching focuses on the following areas:

  • transcription (spelling and handwriting)
  • composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in writing)

We acknowledge the value of ‘Talk for Writing’ and through the use of well-planned learning sequences, children are given opportunities to verbalise ideas in most sessions. Writing is taught through discrete phonics sessions and through the use of shared, modelled writing and guided writing. Teachers use feedback marking to inform pupils of their next steps and to inform future planning. At Aylesford, we value the importance of children reflecting on their own learning, and that of peers, to edit and improve their writing as a result.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG) are taught throughout KS1 and 2. Spelling is taught following the Read Write Inc (RWI) Spelling programme. Pupils are taught spelling rules and patterns which are then practised daily through various games and activities both in class and at home. At Aylesford, it is our aim to give children confidence in their own spelling ability. As a result, children strive to use the best word rather than the easiest word when they are writing. New vocabulary, often linked to the text or the Creative Curriculum, is introduced and embedded in every English lesson. Pupils also have regular, weekly lessons focussed on teaching the rules of grammar and punctuation which are underpinned and identified in text work and then applied to their own writing. As part of our feedback marking, teachers will highlight the next steps for children’s grammar and punctuation learning as well as identifying spelling words for children to practise.

GPS Glossary

Our Curriculum

Literacy is taught throughout the school on a daily basis. In the Foundation Stage, children follow the ‘Communication, Language and Literacy’ area of the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. Children have discrete taught sessions of phonics (following the Read Write Inc. programme) and reading, where children are encouraged to share and respond to a range of texts. Speaking and Listening underpins all aspects of the Foundation Stage curriculum where children are encouraged to explore through role play and to continually converse for different purposes and to varying audiences. To compliment this, during child initiated learning time, children have free access to class libraries, writing areas and phonics resources.

The English Programmes of Study for Key Stage 1 and 2 are followed throughout Years One to Six and are combined with daily Read Write Inc. Phonics Sessions for pupils in Key Stage 1. Read Write Inc. intervention sessions continue throughout Key Stage 2 for those children who still have not met the age related expectation.