English

Through this rich and diverse subject we aim to provide stimulating learning experiences driven by challenge, creativity, imagination and curiosity, giving children opportunities to express and communicate ideas in new ways and make real things for real audiences. Through carefully chosen, relevant topics and challenging and diverse texts, children take ownership of their learning pathways, developing self-esteem and confidence as readers, writers and communicators of the future.

Our English curriculum is driven by the aims of the National Curriculum. The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Speaking and Listening

Our Early Years curriculum focuses primarily on language development and this is built upon as children go through key stages one and two. Key vocabulary is identified across the curriculum and children are supported to use this in their speaking and writing. We know that in order for children to write well, they first need to be able to speak well.

Reading

Structured around a 4 year-rolling programme, our English topics and texts weave in and out of all subject areas. High-quality, challenging texts, including picture books, are the bedrock of our whole curriculum, and each English unit of work is planned around a carefully chosen book, often linked to, or driving, the whole term topic.

Reading is our absolute priority. We know that reading is the most important skill we teach our children in primary school and are committed to ensuring every child can read fluently, have strong comprehension skills and leave us at the end of Year 6 with a genuine love of reading.

Our reading curriculum is based on three pillars:

1. Phonics and decoding so that pupils can read easily and fluently
2. Comprehension including inference and deduction so that pupils can understand what they read and access the wider curriculum
3. Reading for Pleasure so that our pupils enter Key Stage 3 with a love of reading.

Pillar 1. Phonics and decoding

We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Daily phonics lessons in Reception and Year 1

• We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.
• Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term.
• We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
  • Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
  • Children in Year 1 review Phases 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

Support for pupils who fall behind

• Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
• We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Rapid Catch-up assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Rapid Catch-up resources – at pace.
• These short, sharp lessons last 15-20 minutes daily and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in reading.

Ways to help at home

Your child will bring home books carefully matched to their phonics knowledge. They will be changed weekly in order to encourage accelerated progression whilst giving pupils the opportunity to read, and reread, for fluency and comprehension. Our aim is for children to read the same book 3 times at home following the same procedures as in school.

Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children.

If you have any questions at all about your child’s reading, do not hesitate to ask your class teacher.

Please follow the link below for parent resources:

For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

Pillar 2. Reading Comprehension

From Reception, our children read books matched to their phonic knowledge three times a week in school. The third read always focuses on comprehension to ensure pupils understand what they read from the very start.

From Year 2 upwards, the use of whole class reading supports children’s development and use of language and vocabulary as well as their comprehension skills. Our approach ensures that children are able to explore a range of high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

When the pupils enter year 2, group-reading sessions will be reduced and whole-class reading lessons introduced. Alongside this, all pupils have their own individual reading book. This is matched closely with the pupil’s phonic knowledge and is taken home every evening.

In KS2, whole-class reading lessons explicitly teach and practise reading skills. While reading skills are being taught explicitly, the reading content is always relevant, inspiring and purposeful and become the driver for developing wider subject knowledge.

Pillar 3. Reading for Pleasure

Our aim is that every child leaves us with a genuine love of reading. This is developed in a number of ways.

In EYFS and KS1, we have developed a reading spine of high-quality texts that are rich in vocabulary and progressive in their content. This core reading spine is read and reread to children so that they have repeated exposure to the language and know stories well.

In Key Stage 2, our texts are discussed in Whole Class Reading sessions and are read aloud for children to enjoy. We have thought carefully about the range of texts and authors that pupils will encounter, to ensure their reading diet is varied and diverse.

Across the whole school, teachers read to children daily. This time is protected and valued by the whole school community.

Our poetry progression includes poems to read in class, ensuring the children are exposed to a wide range of poetry to enjoy.

Author visits further inspire our pupils to read and write as well as regular reading events, such as World Book Day. Our school has a well-stocked library from which teachers can recommend high quality texts for pupils to read at home and school.

Writing

Our writing curriculum is based on the writing purposes outlined in the National Curriculum. Through a consistent writing sequence, pupils learn to write in a range of forms for different purposes. Our long-term plan outlines the various forms and purposes that pupils learn and revisit to ensure writing skills are developed throughout their time from Early Years to Year 6.

Our youngest children are encouraged to class themselves as writers and authors from their very first mark-making experiences. Our older children work arduously on their writing projects, and are constantly challenged to develop their personal style and voice, as well as learning valuable life skills such as editing and redrafting.

We take a holistic approach to writing and grammar, through carefully planned activities ensure children can meet the demanding expectations of the grammar curriculum, by experiencing and enjoying technical terminology in relevant contexts.

We provide opportunities for our pupils to develop the stamina and skills to write at length; use accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar; write in a range of ways and purposes; and write to support their understanding and consolidation of what they have heard or read. There are two aspects of writing development: transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition. We use the Read Write Inc Scheme of work to teach spelling in discreet daily sessions. Children with SEND or with specific learning gaps use Lexia or other specifically tailored interventions.

Inclusion

In all classes children’s reading is taught predominately through a whole-class approach. Enthusiasm and engagement in a whole class text is the vehicle through which children learn the majority of their reading skills. Approaches to reading interventions vary to meet the needs of the learners in our classes. For example, focussed group reading sessions or one-to-one interventions. All practitioners are reflective and responsive to the needs of their classes and adapt their planning and delivery appropriately and flexibly.

A culture of high expectations is established through the careful choice of an accessible yet challenging whole-class text. SEND needs are supported through scaffolding during activities and in engaging with the text, this can be through small group work, additional resources and provision such as word banks, and additional pre-teaching to prepare children to access each lesson.