English

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Statement of Intent

At Wincle CE Primary School, we know and understand our children. We listen to our children’s voices, and we have worked hard to create a curriculum that encourages them to be enthusiastic, motivated and engaged with English. At Wincle Primary, we create opportunities for deeper and richer content that will stretch, challenge and provide a range of different contexts within which pupils work outside what is their normal experience.

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At Wincle CE (VA) Primary School, we are continuously discovering a world of wonder empowered by God’s spirit. Through this, we aim to equip all our children with the necessary skills which will allow them to flourish in the world they are growing up in.

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‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’ – National Curriculum

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We want our children to have a positive attitude towards communication and to be able to independently express their emotions and their ideas. It is our intention, to immerse pupils in the wonders of quality texts to instil a love for reading, a passion for discovery and a confidence to explore their imagination. Through our English Curriculum, we teach the children how important their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills will be in the real world. By giving this context to their learning, the children understand the value of English to them now, and in their futures.

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Key features of our English curriculum:

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1. Have a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards writing.

2. Understand and apply their knowledge of phonics and spelling.

3. Develop a technical vocabulary which they can then: discuss, understand and use when writing and sharing their writing with their peers.

4. Plan, draft, revise and edit their own work, and learn how to self and peer assess against the learning objective and/or chilli challenge set for them.

5. Write in a range of genres (including fiction, non-fiction and poetry).

6. Develop their imagination, creativity, expressive language and critical awareness.

7. Write with confidence, clarity and imagination.

8. Write clearly, accurately and effectively for a range of audiences and purposes.

9. To understand how to improve their writing through timely and effective feedback, using our three tick system and/or purple pen during feedback time within each lesson.

10. Have opportunities to develop speaking and listening skills through the performance/presentation of their work, for variety of purposes.

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Our English curriculum supports children to develop skills in the following key areas:

 

A vital aspect in the development of essential knowledge and skills is the use of continuous provision. This means that children are using and developing certain skills throughout the year on a daily/weekly basis. Staff also plan highly engaging directed activities with enhanced provision ideas that are mapped alongside each one to consolidate or extend learning.

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Grammar and Punctuation

These areas of English are taught daily within English lessons, following the National Curriculum expectations. All staff ensure we revise, revisit and consolidate all areas that have been taught throughout the year. This, therefore, allows the children to lock their learning into their long term memory more easily which enhances their learning experience.

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Spelling and Phonics

Both spelling and phonics are taught discreetly on a daily basis. We are able to focus on specific objectives for small, differentiated groups which allows us to ensure all children have high quality teaching and make as much progress as possible. We use Bug Club for our phonics programme. There is a strong focus on formation and practical, active learning to ensure children experience a range of teaching strategies and opportunities to hear, see and identify the sounds daily.

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Vocabulary

We focus strongly on broadening and extending the children’s language, both spoken and written, and have robust vocabulary links to each topic that is being taught. All spelling words are discussed and meanings are explained each week. During each lesson any key vocabulary is discussed and displayed, to ensure the children are able to understand it and use it effectively as often as possible within their writing.

 

Reading

We want our pupils to develop a passion for reading, with an enthusiasm in reading for pleasure. We encourage book choices, which foster the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ values; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Our guided reading lessons include both fiction and non-fiction books and cover the key reading domains to develop key skills in reading comprehension. The children will be heard either individually or in groups each week. Staff plan their lessons so that each Guided Reading group is heard by the teacher at least once a week. When the groups are working independently they are working on specific reading tasks linked to their guided reading text, for example: 60 Second Read comprehensions, Reading activities/questions set by the teacher, book reviews, character profiles, inference activities.

Parents are given clear expectations about reading at home and receive any support needed through regularly ‘Family Read’ sessions, which occur during the Spring and Summer terms. Family Read supports and guides our families with their reading journey. We truly value the importance of reading for pleasure and reading a breadth of genres/styles. This is celebrated throughout the whole school. Families also have opportunities to communicate with the school through their child’s Reading Diary, which is checked and responded to by staff at least three times a week.

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Writing

We use the Write Stuff approach to teaching writing. In English lessons across both Key Stages, teachers plan a sequence of lessons that explore quality texts and give pupils the opportunity to practice writing, reading, speaking and listening. Teachers model these skills on a regular basis and planning, editing, publishing and ICT based tasks can be planned in as part of the teaching sequence. 

We often teach through book-led learning, using high quality, carefully chosen texts, entwining links with other, appropriate foundation subjects that we are teaching too. Purpose is at the heart of our English teaching, therefore we work hard to link in any foundation subjects that will allow the children to develop a clearer understanding of the overall topic and have access to all the information/vocabulary surrounding that topic, from many different perspectives.

There are daily opportunities for all children to write. We incorporate a variety of ways to record our written work too: in books, on paper, typed or videoed via performance or discussion. All of the strategies and teaching methods mentioned above work to engage the children and allow them to unleash their imagination and motivation, giving them the best possible opportunity to achieve in their written work.

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Impact

• Pupils will enjoy writing across a range of genres.

• Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all English lessons because work will be appropriately differentiated/ scaffolded.

• Pupils will have a wide vocabulary that they use within their writing

• Pupils will have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience

• Pupils will leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught

• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support spelling, grammar and composition and home, and contribute regularly to homework

 

National Curriculum English Programmes of Study: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmesof-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study