English

English has 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 through 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 skills 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.

Source: National Curriculum, 2014

Intent

At Ash Primary School, we believe a high quality English curriculum should inspire, enthuse and empower all learners to reach their potential in reading, writing and communication. Equipping children with the skills and knowledge in English to become progressively articulate individuals; inspiring futures and enabling them to move on to the next stage in their education as confident, motivated and independent learners. . The National Curriculum (2014) forms the basis for all subject teaching ensuring the continuity and progression in an age-related curriculum.

Throughout Ash, we want pupils to become fluent and avid readers, who can confidently infer, retrieve, question and explain a wide and diverse range of texts; acquire a rich and broad vocabulary; a solid understanding of grammar; and be able to spell new words by effectively applying learnt spelling patterns and rules. In addition to this, we want them to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a variety of contexts, purposes and audiences.

We plan a progressive curriculum to build upon previous teaching with regular assessment to ensure each child's needs are met to reach their full potential.

We want every child to be able to

• Enjoy reading fluently and with good understanding.
• Develop a good knowledge of phonics, enabling them to become fluent readers and writers.
• Develop the habit of reading widely both for pleasure and information.
• Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
• Have strong understanding of grammar, punctuation and spellings and apply it effectively to their writing.
• Re-read, edit and improve their writing.
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions of reading, writing and spoken language.
• Take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a legible, cursive handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school.

Implementation

• Children have four writing lessons per week.
• Guided reading sessions take place 3 - 4 times a week.
• Teachers create a positive reading and writing culture in school.
• Additional sessions of reading are encouraged to ensure children have the opportunity to read for pleasure and to listen to teachers reading aloud.
• Many children read daily to an adult in KS1.
• High quality texts are being introduced to inspire writing sessions and teach the children key comprehension skills: retrieval, inference, explanation, prediction, and summaries. The texts will also provide opportunities for children to reflect upon the diversities of life.
• 1:1 reading and small group reading intervention sessions for children identified as needing additional support.
• Targeted reading intervention.
• Pupils to acquire strategies to enable them to become independent learners in English (e.g. spellings rules & patterns, proof reading skills and how to tackle unfamiliar words when reading).
• Teaching a range of genres across the school both in English and other curriculum areas, resulting in pupils being exposed to, and knowledgeable about, literary styles, authors and genres.
• Daily phonics delivery through the implementation of The Little Wandle programme for Eys and KS1.
• Age appropriate spellings sent home weekly from the Twinkl spelling programme, which the children are tested on the following week.
• Pupils to discuss, articulate and present their ideas with and to others, being able to elaborate and explain themselves clearly, make presentations (KS2) and participate in debates (Upper KS2).
• Discrete spelling, grammar and handwriting lessons.

Impact

Teachers use assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning. Writing is marked throughout the week to inform next step learning. Individual feedback is given when appropriate and targeted intervention in a small group is used when children have a similar difficulty. Teachers use marking to inform their teaching. Children are given regular opportunities to peer self-assess to encourage them to become reflective writers. Children a complete formal writing assessment four times a term. In reading, children are formally assessed termly.

The impact of our English curriculum is measured by:

• Lesson observations, book scrutiny and learning walks by SLT.
• Moderating pupils' work in school and cluster meetings with other schools to ensure accurate assessments are made.
• Tracking pupil' progress in December, March and July. 
• Gathering pupil voice to check understanding, progression and confidence in discussing English.
• Monitoring is used to identify gaps in the curriculum that may need to be addressed across the school, or within individual year groups. Monitoring is an ongoing cycle to ensure the best possible English curriculum for all of our children.

Spelling

We follow the National Curriculum. More details of rules that are taught, and the word lists/common exception words can be found here.