At Abingdon, we believe that strong foundations are essential for every child to thrive. We have high, consistent expectations across all areas of the curriculum and carefully teach the knowledge, skills and routines children need to become confident, independent learners.
We follow a ‘keep up, not catch up’ approach, identifying and addressing gaps early so that children receive the right support at the right time. Our consistent approaches to handwriting, phonics, spelling, reading, mathematics, oracy and vocabulary help children build secure knowledge as they move through school.
Children are taught how to develop good writing habits through our Ready to Write routines and Letter-Join handwriting programme. Sounds-Write provides a consistent approach to phonics and spelling from Foundation Stage through to Year 6, while White Rose Mathematics supports a coherent, mastery-based approach to mathematics, developing fluency, reasoning and strong number sense. Times Tables Rock Stars helps children build confidence and fluency with multiplication facts.
We place a strong emphasis on oracy and vocabulary. As a Voice 21 School, we use the Voice 21 Oracy Framework across the curriculum to help children learn to talk and learn through talk. Vocabulary is carefully selected and mapped across every unit so that children encounter and understand ambitious language in every subject.
Where children need additional support, we use assessment carefully to identify their individual needs. Targeted interventions such as Talk Boost, Sounds-Write, Phonics to Fluency and Lexonic help children strengthen key skills in language, phonics, decoding, vocabulary and reading fluency. We also recognise that wellbeing is an important foundation for learning, with our Wellbeing Programme and Thrive provision supporting children’s emotional and social development.
We carefully plan additional support so that children can access the foundations they need without missing out on the richness of the wider curriculum. Through consistent teaching, high expectations and responsive support, we ensure that every child has the opportunity to build strong foundations and succeed.
Useful Links for Parents
If you ever have questions about supporting your child to build secure foundations for their learning, please do not hesitate to talk to one of the team.
Sounds Write
Support for Parents and Carers – Sounds-Write
Talk Boost
Help for families – Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
Lexonic
Lexonic – Literacy Intervention Programmes That Empower Learning
Thrive
Inclusion, SEMH & Behaviour Support in Schools | The Thrive Approach
Letter Join
Letter-join whole school handwriting scheme
Voice 21
Times Table Rockstars
