English
English Leader - Mrs Cunningham
National Curriculum Aims
The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.
The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
At St Alban's, we have purchased The Literacy Company Pathways resource to support the teaching of English.
Reading
Dr. Suess once said, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go."
Here at St Alban's, we believe reading is the gateway to all other areas of the curriculum. First, we learn to read and then we read to learn!
We promote a love of reading by replenishing our classroom reading areas with new and exciting books for our children to enjoy. We also have daily story time where every child from EYFS up to Year 6 can sit back and enjoy listening to a quality text read by their teacher. Our KS2 children also have access to Reading Plus which is an adaptive literacy solution that aims to improve reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, stamina, and motivation. Not only does it help our children to become proficient and speedy readers, it is also fun and easy to access from home.
We use the Pathways to Read shceme across KS2. Pathways to Read is a programme designed to equip pupils from Year 2 onwards with key skills to move them through the reading process towards becoming competent and fluent readers. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to high-quality texts. Pathways to Read ensures engaging and purposeful reading lessons. During these carefully planned out sessions children each have access to their own quailty text which link with their writing unit. Teachers and support staff work with groups of childen to develop comprehension and higher level thinking skills though questioning and discussion. As a school, we made the decision to add in a written comprehension session, where children will answer a range of differrent style questions about the text they have been focusing on. Questions are carefully prepared by class teachers from each of the reading domains e.g prediction, summarising, inference etc.
We actively encourage parents and carers to support their child on their reading journey by providing a home reading book that is carefully chosen and suitable for their reading ability. The more children read, the easier it is for them to become fluent, independent readers.
For EYFS and KS1 reading please see the Little Wandle page on our wesbite.
Writing
To work alongside Pathways to Read, we have implemented Pathways to Write. This is a proven methodology built around units of work which develop vocabulary, reading and writing skills through the mastery approach. The units, for use with pupils from EYFS to Y6, provide clear detailed lesson plans and resources, linked to high-quality texts to ensure engaging and purposeful English lessons inclusive of all learners. Effective teaching strategies which aim to challenge greater depth writers are included within each unit of work. We begin each writing unit with a 'hook' into the writing topic where children may have a special item appear in the classroom or an exciting task linked to the book for them to take part in. This gets the creative cogs turning in their wonderful minds and inspires them to produce fantastic writing! Children will then focus on mastering key writing skills throughout the unit and finally will apply them in an independent piece of writing inspired by the class text.
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Poetry
Poetry can often be overlooked but at St Alban's we understand the importance of it and how it can develop both spoken and written language and help to develop our pupils into creative writers. For this reason, every year group has poetry units embedded within our English curriculum. These poetry units are linked to themes in Pathways to Write and Pathways to Read. The Pathways to Poetry enhances work on vocabulary, spoken language, reading and writing; it gives pupils the opportunity to play with language orally and in writing. From EYFS, where pupils engage with rhymes up to Y6 where pupils are creating metaphor, there is an opportunity for all to practise performance and for crafting their own poetry. A wide range of poetry forms and styles are investigated across each year with progression in writing skills weaved throughout.
Spelling
Pathways to Spell is an innovative and engaging programme to fascinate pupils about words and teach them important spelling patterns and rules to support their writing. Our pupils from Year 2 - Year 6 are taught a series of lessons following a Review, Explain, Practise, Apply and Reflect model. Through this programme, we aim to develop a school of spellers who use a series of strategies in lessons and in their independent writing. Unlike other spelling programmes, there is a cycle of review objectives covering the whole curriculum to ensure gaps in learning are constantly revisited.