Buntingsdale Primary School & Nursery
English
"English is a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and throught their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skilss of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised" (National Curriculum 2014)
INTENT
Aims
Reading
- To enable pupils to read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- To enable pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often for both pleasure and information
- To enable pupils to broaden vocabulary through their reading
- To enable pupils to understand an authors' creativity and the structure and characteristics of different languages forms and genres
Writing
- To promote writing as a major form of communication
- o enable pupils to write clearly, accurately and coherently by adapting their language and style to fit a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- To enable pupils to broaden their vocabulary and develop an understanding of grammar and linguistic conventions in writing
Speaking and Listening
- To encourage children to elaborate upon and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- To encourage children to engage with a range of audiences in a variety of contexts and for differing purposes including making formal presentations and participating in debates
- To listen, understand and respond appropriately to other people
IMPLEMENTATION
School Provision and Organisation
Our intentions are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have developed a well organised English curriculum, based upon the objectives of the 2014 National Curriculum. The lessons provide many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We use enhancements, quality texts and visual media to stimulate a love of reading, writing and discussion.
The school has one EYFS class, a Year 1/2 class, a Year 3/4 class and a Year 5/6 class. English is taught in each class by the class teacher with additional support from TAs.
We teach reading and writing in the Foundation Stage class as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. We relate the reading and writing aspects of the children’s work to the objectives set out in Development Matters which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five. Both areas make a significant contribution to these objectives. The children read individually to an adult, and take part in guided reading sessions with an adult weekly. In Writing the children are encouraged to begin communicating their experiences on paper with a range of mark-making equipment (often known as emergent writing) which they are then encouraged to develop further into writing simple sentences. This is often linked to role-play activities in the classroom and outdoor play area. As individual children develop they are introduced to the correct formation of letters through tracing and copy writing.
In Years 1-6 Writing is taught through daily English sessions which can incorporate whole class shared writing sessions, guided group writing sessions and/or individual sessions led by the class teacher and assisted by the TA. It is further supplemented by writing across the curriculum. Reading is taught throughout the curriculum and through group whole class reading sessions, individual sessions and as part of daily phonics sessions in EYFS and KS1. There are additional sessions for targeted Year Two readers to move them towards ARE.
Spelling Shed supplements the teaching of spelling and grammar which is covered throughout the curriculum. It is taught throughout the week in KS1 and KS2 with spelling test to assess knowledge of the common exception words.
Specific handwriting lessons take place weekly within each class using the Letter Join program in order for the children to develop a fluid cursive style. Perfect Presentation is strongly encouraged within the school.
All teachers have produced a long term plan detailing the genres to be covered, texts to support this and cross curricular links that can be made to develop English skills further. The texts selected by the teachers within each genre provide a context for written tasks. Children are ‘immersed’ in the writing process through ‘formal’ punctuation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar work and through different forms of planning, editing and evaluating. Physical writing takes place throughout the process, covering all genres, National Curriculum objectives and linking to different curriculum areas. Differentiation is achieved through the use of questioning, graded texts, success criteria, level of adult support and degree of challenge. As children move through the school, greater expectations and opportunities for extended writing develop stamina for all children.
IMPACT
Assessment
Throughout each lesson formative assessment takes place and feedback is given to the children through verbal feedback, marking and next step tasks. Future planning is informed by this assessment, as well as by curricular targets, and individual/group needs are evaluated and catered for.
Reading and Writing teaching and learning is monitored by the Subject Leader and the SLT team. This includes use of book scrutinies, formal and informal lesson observations, pupil voice and analysis of data.
At the end of each term Years 3, 4 and 5 use the termly reading comprehension tests produced by NFER which enable us to generate standardised scores to help monitor the progress of individual students and cohorts. Years 2 and 6 use old SATs papers which also generate standardised scores. Writing is assessed through the use of the Primary Framework in years 2 and 6, and by teacher assessment against national curriculum objectives in years 1, 3, 4 and 5.
In the final term of EYFS, each child’s level of development is assessed against the Early Learning Goals. These judgements are based on ongoing teacher assessments and observations throughout the year.
At the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children will take statutory national tests.
At the end of Key Stage 1 children will be judged to be working at one of 4 performance descriptors using externally set but internally marked tests to guide teacher assessment:
• Foundations for the expected standard
• Working towards the expected standard
• Working at the expected standard
• Working at greater depth
At the end of Key Stage 2 children will be judged to be either working at the national standard or not working at the national standard using an externally set, externally marked test.
Curriculum Statement – English