English Subject Curriculum Statement
Intent All aspects of English are taught following the National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage expectations, making links with other curricular areas where appropriate. A command of English in all its forms, reading, writing, speaking and listening – are essential to the all-round development of the child, vital for underpinning every area of the school curriculum. Our English scheme of is based on our commitment to developing reading and writing through engagement with high quality talk and drama in a range of learning environments. Emphasis is placed on the development of spoken and written English, with the teaching of reading and the fostering of a ‘love of reading’. The children will learn skills through different genres including fiction and non-fiction. We use Little Wandle to develop the essential literacy skills of phonics, grammar, spelling and reading. The school’s aim is to encourage the development of a literate, articulate child, who is able to approach both spoken and written forms of communication confidently.
Implementation
Speaking and listening
Oral language comes naturally to most children in the early years but there is a continuing need for development and improvement. At Folly Hill School we provide ample opportunity for relaxed as well as more formal talking activities, which are shared with parents. Children are given a variety of different ways to develop these skills, though, show and tell, sharing experiences (rainbow with ZOG the class toy), sharing talents, speaking in front of groups, class and school, presenting their projects to the class answering question about them, drama, PSHE/wellbeing and class and whole school assemblies to guests. A vital part of growth and personal development is learning to be a good listener. Such situations as Circle Time, talk partners, drama, and role play are included in the school programme to help children to develop their listening and verbal skills. Children are encouraged to be imaginative and creative, to reason and develop a sense of humour.
Reading
Reading is one of the most important skills taught in school. Reading activities begin in the Early Years through sharing stories, poems, rhymes and books of all types. In Reception the children begin phonics using the Little Wandle Scheme build upon this knowledge throughout the rest of Early Years and KS1. We aim to foster a lifelong love of reading through sharing daily a book from our extensive collection, recommended reads, a guest reader ( is it your mum reading this week?) or a child’s choice. Recommended reads are shared fortnightly in assembly giving KS1 together an opportunity to share their preferences of books. We encourage children to read a range of texts through guided reading, individual reading, quiet reading, reading partners and they also have the opportunity to select a library book weekly. Alongside the children also learn to read key words to build their sight vocabulary. Reading schemes are used to support children as they develop their abilities. These ensure a structured progression in reading, alongside the teaching of phonics. Home reading books are carefully selected to match the phonics learning in school following the Little Wandle scheme. Once a child has reach stage 6 in phonics we have a large library of banded books to continue their learning journey developing their comprehension and continuing the love of reading. We provide the children with a variety of crosscurricular reading experiences which leads to confident readers, who are able to read for deeper meaning and discuss their opinions on a variety of different styles of text. The school runs an annual bedtime story event, takes the children in year 1 to the little library nearby, and when we can we have an author in to share their books. Bi- annually we have a book fair.
Writing
Writing is a complex process requiring a number of skills. Successful writing takes time - initially children are encouraged to make marks and write freely. This is encouraged on a large scale, both inside and out. In line with their phonics learning, our younger children are encouraged to ‘have a go’ and will begin to use their sounds with some support and some adult scribing. Most early writing is of a personal nature and children’s work reflects their home life and hobbies. In Key stage 1 children are given a range of opportunities to write in both their English lessons and across the curriculum. To stimulate children’s writing we use carefully selected stories, animations, plays, film clips, poems and life experiences and real life in the form of visitors or trips out. The children have opportunities to write individually and in groups, as the teacher models writing skills and gives direct feedback. Spelling and grammar are carefully and systematically embedded across the school, and we follow the National Curriculum grammar progression. Key words are taught using a variety of strategies including Look, Write, Cover, Check, visual cues, learning patterns and repeating letters. Focus words are taught weekly as is key vocabulary linked little Wandle phonics . Parents are updated through the topic webs sent home and regular emails. In addition to this at the end of each term children complete an unaided piece of work, this is then used for assessment, judging if each child is meeting or exceeding the age-related expectations. This, along with the children’s day to day learning helps us monitor changing learning needs of the children. Handwriting in EYFS is a skill developed through busy fingers, outside activities and through the formal handwriting. Building on the EYFS, pupils at key Stage 1 continue to develop a legible style. This is achieved in Year 1 by developing a comfortable and efficient pencil style and by practising handwriting in conjunction with spelling and independent writing. Correct letter orientation, formation and proportion are taught in line with the school’s agreed handwriting style. This continues in Year 2 and the four basic handwriting joins (diagonal and horizontal joins to letters with and without ascenders) are practised. Children are encouraged to begin joining at an appropriate time for the individual, usually towards the end of Year 1.
Impact
Children leave Folly Hill
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
• The ability to listen, understand and respond appropriately to others;
• Able recognise and use grammatically correct English appropriate to the situation;
• With and awareness of the spoken word (oracy) and its variety of purpose (imaginative, exploratory, explanatory, discursive etc);
• Able to express themselves clearly, effectively and confidently in a variety of situations and to a range of audiences;
• With the ability to question and justify co-operate in pair, group and whole class activities and discussions;
• Able to listen actively;
• Able to re tell variety of stories.
READING
• With the ability to read, understand and respond to all types of text
• With a lifelong enthusiasm for reading;
• Able to use a full range of reading strategies - phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, word recognition and graphic knowledge, grammatical awareness, contextual understanding - and comprehension;.
WRITING
• With enthusiasm for writing;
• With knowledge of grammar and punctuation appropriate to National Curriculum expectations;
• With the ability to write independently in a variety of situations for differing purposes and audiences;
• With the ability to structure writing appropriately, evaluate work and redraft where necessary;
• With phonic awareness in order that they can use this knowledge in spelling and reading (using appropriate letters and & sounds phases);
• With an awareness of conventional forms of spelling appropriate to National Curriculum expectations;
• With a sound knowledge of common exception words;
• With a clear, flowing, joined script (reference Hand Writing Policy) Very large majority leave our school with good or better reading/ writing skills (80-90%) setting them up for the next stages in learning.