English
Literacy at Ellesmere is a wide and varied experience. From EYFS through to Post 16 the students will have the opportunity to engage with many different strategies and learning environments. Visual clues will be provided to all students through a variety of different ways including the use of Widgit, Colourful Semantics and PECs where appropriate.
Students are taught thematically throughout the college, encountering basic skills alongside sharing stories, poetry, non-fiction and developing verbal communication skills. As the students progress through the college, they begin studying towards an appropriate qualification in Year 10. In Post 16, the focus is very much on functional literacy; looking at literacy in the community, in the home and in the workplace.
PHONICS AND READING
From September 2022, we have been using the Unlocking Letters and Sounds phonics scheme, which was validated by the DfE in December 2021.
We begin by checking what students already know and understand and then plan teaching around that. We use whole class, small group and individual teaching to support each student’s development in phonics.



Key terms
Progression through phonics
Reading
Reading for pleasure

Supporting reading at home
We know that parents and carers are very busy people, but if you can find time to read to your child as much as possible, it helps them learn about books and stories. They also learn new words and what they mean.
We would encourage all parents and carers to support their child in joining their local public library. If you live in Leicester City, we can support you with this – just get in touch with the Aylestone site reception.
You can also make use of ePlatform, our online library, which is free to all of our families. You can access this on the website below or by downloading the app.
https://ecleicester.eplatform.co/
Your child can borrow ebooks and audiobooks. The library catalogue is full of bestselling, popular fiction titles and offers our students a 24 hour library in addition to our well stocked print library in school.
Our guide to using the online library can be found following the link below:
We would love to see how your child gets on with reading at home. Please use the ‘Reading at home’ tag on the Evidence for Learning Family App when sending pictures or videos of your child reading or taking part in reading activities.
We have put together a handout that will give you some suggestions for supporting your child at home with reading
- Holding reading and phonics focused parent and carer workshops and coffee mornings
- Sending home termly reading newsletters, which include suggested books
- Working with the Leicester Library Services to promote and support parents and carers with accessing our local libraries