English Curriculum 

Aim

We believe that it is our role to provide our children with opportunities to become excellent communicators, through speaking, understanding texts and writing in different genres.  We believe that high levels of achievement in English are central to ensuring our pupils have access to the widest range of individual choices as they continue to grow and develop.

Phonics is taught daily in Recption to Year 2, for 20 minutes each day.  As a school we follow the Little Wandle programme which concentrates on activities to promote speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending.  We teach systematic synthetic phonics from Reception upwards and cover all phases sequentially. As soon as Reception start full time we begin with teaching Phase 2 and teach a set per week.  These phonics lessons follow the DfE structure:

• Revisit and Review

• Teach and Practice

• Practise and Apply

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.

Children are assessed termly against the phase that has been taught to them in order to get a snapshot of progress. This informs planning and next steps for pupils.

Further information and resources can be found at https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Children are given regular opportunities to apply the phonics they have learned to read fully decodable books. The phonic progression in books match the progression of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds.  The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

• Decoding

• Prosody – reading with meaning, stress and intonation

• Comprehension – understanding the text.

Our Nursery and Reception curriculum draws on the Development Matters framework.  Within the Foundation Stage, our staff are conscious of the important role they play in addressing children’s  Communication and Language skills. Within Reception there are three role play areas (one in each class and one in the playhouse). Children are often more receptive to open dialogue with others when engaged in play and these provide excellent opportunities to express themselves.

Our curriculum for Years 1 to 6 draws on the National Curriculum, with lessons planned to develop children’s understanding of texts, writing in a range of genres and speaking with confidence.  In addition, our children learn about the structure of the English language, through weekly grammar lessons and the skills are then applied and revisited in daily English lessons.

Reading Curriculum Overview: Reception to Year 6