By Miss Perri (English Teacher)

Our Upper Sixth English Language students took an exciting trip to Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School on Wednesday to complete some observations of how reception children are taught to read and write. 

As part of their Child Language Development unit of study, students were able to witness how children are taught to blend and segment sounds through the phonics curriculum, as well as the inventive ways they learn to hold their pencil to form letters, associating each letter with a different animal. Not only were our Upper Sixth students very impressed by the enthusiasm of their younger peers but they also got to join in on some playtime, with rave reviews from the children who said ‘they were very good at playing’! 

We are very grateful to the staff at Pilgrims for kindly inviting us in and can’t wait to come and visit again next year! 

The Sixth Form students reflected on the visit:

"Visiting Pilgrims allowed me to put my learning of child language and writing development into perspective. It allowed me to gain a contextual understanding of my course." 

"I found going to Pilgrims really helped my understanding of the importance of a teacher's role in correcting a child's writing and speaking skills."