Using the QCA Scemes

Through active methods and physical response children feel safe to explore and experiment with the new sounds. For those who prefer to listen and observe, they absorb the new language by watching others and gradually increase in confidence, until they too are joining in, responding to what they hear and see and engaging with others in short conversations and role-play.

Upper Key Stage 2

Units 13–24 are inspired by themes that are commonly taught in years five and six and which reflect children’s developing maturity and cognitive skills. These involve, for example, planning the exploration of a river, writing a poem from the stimulus of a painting or expressing opinions about musical preferences.

In addition, children develop their skills of sound discrimination and word segmentation and are encouraged to use these as strategies to help their writing and to work out the pronunciation of new words. Some of the less common phonemes are introduced in these later units, and there are regular opportunities to revise the phonemes introduced earlier.