At Bangor Central Integrated Primary School, we believe that literacy and communication are key life skills.

Through the Northern Ireland Curriculum, we will help children to develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively through spoken and written language, and equip them with the skill to become life long learners.  We want children to enjoy and appreciate a variety of literature.

Literacy is at the heart of all children’s learning.  Literacy enables children to communicate with others, and through this, acquire knowledge skills and understanding, that will better equip them to meet the responsibilities of adult life, employment and personal development.

We enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in

• Talking and listening
• Reading
• Writing

Children have opportunities to develop their language and literacy skills through a variety of learning experiences.

Talking and listening

It is largely through active engagement in talking and listening experiences that learning takes place.

Talk is central to learning.

Children need to use oral language to develop skills such as reasoning, prediction, summarizing etc.  Activities are devised for each year group to give children opportunities to develop these skills.

Reading

We aim to inspire children to read independently, to promote the value of reading both for learning and as a source of pleasure and enjoyment and to see themselves succeed as readers.

Resources

Foundation – Read, Write Inc programme

KS1/2

• Oxford Reading Buddy
• Bug Club
• AR reading programme (Year 5-7)
• Myon
• Time to Read

Writing

Learning to write is one of the most important things that a child at primary school will learn.  Children use their writing in almost all other subjects in the curriculum.

Writing gives children a voice to share their ideas.  Our aim is that children will write to communicate understanding and use written language effectively.  To enable children to succeed we plan for and deliver activities that cover the 6 different genres of writing, and ensure that children’s writing is marked for improvement on a regular basis.

It is our aim to create a supportive classroom atmosphere where children will feel encouraged and accepted and will have the confidence to explore and develop their skills in talking and listening, reading and writing.  Teachers will use a range of teaching methods and resources, which allow each pupil to achieve success through enjoyable challenging activities.