English
The English Team is fully devoted to improving standards in English across the entire school. We believe that literacy and communication are life skills and aim to provide an interesting and engaging English curriculum that is underpinned by the belief that developing children’s language is crucial to their success across the curriculum and for life-long learning. We want every one of our children to enjoy and appreciate literature for all its rich variety.
Writing
The ideas, grammar and techniques of writing are taught using the principles of ‘The Write Stuff’, Transforming the Teaching of Writing by Jane Considine. Using a broad range of high-quality texts, writing is modelled (using lenses from the writing rainbow) and broken down into manageable chunks which the children practise before using the skills they have learnt to write independently.
Reading
In reading, phonics is taught daily in EYFS and Year 1 following the Essential Letters and Sounds programme. Phonic knowledge is applied in daily reading and writing sessions throughout the school. Once children move into Year 2, children are given banded books that are appropriate for their level. Comprehension skills are developed from Year 1 onwards in whole class reading sessions, which focus on applying strategies to deepen understanding of the text. These include making predictions, inferences and connections, clarifying, summarising, retrieving information, asking questions and evaluating authorial intent.
A video by Mr Baptie explaining the phonic scheme and how you can help your child at home is here:
/i/video/Phonics_Information_Video.mp4
Resources to help with supporting phonics at home are below:
Spelling
In Years 2-6, additional teaching of spelling is delivered in regular short sessions, and the children are taught to use a range of spelling strategies including segmenting into syllables and word building.
Click on the link below to read more about this in the English Curriculum Policy Statement.
English Curriculum policy statement
Reading at Home
Enjoying a book with your child is a fantastic way to share adventures and experiences together, and it’s the best way to get them reading for life. Here are some tips for raising a reader;
- Make books part of your family life – Always have books around so that you and your children are ready to read whenever there’s a chance.
- Join your local library – Get your child a library card, you'll find tons and tons of fantastic books. Allow them to pick their own books, encouraging their own interests.
- Match their interests – Help them find the right book - it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, poetry, comic books or non-fiction.
- All reading is good – Don’t discount non-fiction, comics, graphic novels, magazines and leaflets. Reading is reading and it is all good.
- Get comfortable! – Snuggle up somewhere warm and cosy with your child, either in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa, or make sure they have somewhere comfy when reading alone.
- Ask questions – To keep them interested in the story, ask your child questions as you read such as, ‘What do you think will happen next?’ or ‘Where did we get to last night? Can you remember what had happened already?’
- Read whenever you get the chance – Bring along a book or magazine for any time your child has to wait, such as at a doctor’s surgery.
- Read again and again – Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems. Re-reading helps to build up fluency and confidence.
- Bedtime stories – Regularly read with your child or children at bedtime. It’s a great way to end the day and to spend valuable time with your child. This special time doesn't have to stop once your child can read independently!
- Rhyme and repetition – Books and poems which include rhyme and repetition are great for encouraging your child or children to join in and remember the words. Enjoying a poem is a brilliant way to foster a love of language and there are lots of hilarious and imaginative books of poetry for children.
Read Theory
In order to develop comprehension, and as part of our home-learning, we promote the use of the website www.readtheory.com. Using their login, your child will be able to access mini reading quizzes which allow them to practise decoding new texts, answer different types of comprehension questions and explore the meaning of vocabulary in context.
This is the Long Term Plan for activities in English:
This is the Long Term Plan for learning in English:
This is how learning accumulates in writing throughout the school:
cumulative learning english writing.pdf
This is how learning accumulates in reading throughout the school:
cumulative learning english reading.pdf
