English Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Landulph School we believe that a high-quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. We aim to inspire an appreciation of the subject area so that the children at Landulph grow into confident and fluent linguists. We recognise the importance of cultivating a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We also want to inspire children to be confident in the arts of speaking and listening so that they can use discussion in order to develop their learning further in all subject areas. We believe that a thorough grasp of literacy skills is crucial to a high-quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society. Through the Talk for Writing framework and the promotion of reading for pleasure we give all children the opportunity to enter the magical worlds that books open up to them. Children are then encouraged to develop their own love of genres and authors in order to enhance their enjoyment of literature.

Implementation

The 2014 National Curriculum states:

‘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.’

These aims are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We use a wide variety of high-quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children, with these texts chosen at the beginning of the academic year in order to ensure a breadth of literary experiences. We also provide a wealth of enrichment opportunities, from hosting World Book Day, Interclass Poetry Competitions, Reading Challenges in collaboration with the local library, theatre visits and assembly showcases in order to promote the subject area further.

All teachers plan stimulating English lessons using the Talk for Writing sequence of learning and adapt their teaching as required to cater for the individual needs of the children in their class. We endeavour to make the English curriculum accessible to all pupils.

The Talk for Writing sequence of learning enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version. Children at Landulph school feel safe and confident to explore the variation of texts through this model as they are aware of the three-stage unit of work and use this knowledge when exploring the texts at each stage of the framework.

The children also respond really well to the ‘live’ feedback about their learning in each lesson, enabling them to adjust their writing based on the instant feedback provided by teachers and teaching assistants. At Landulph, we believe it is highly important to give children feedback that is rich and meaningful so that they are aware of their triumphs and those areas that they need to be focussing on to improve their learning further. Incorrect spellings are regularly monitored and corrected using the live feedback marking model and children use the knowledge obtained from the Twinkl spelling scheme to scaffold their writing further.

Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are also taught through English lessons as much as possible. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing outcome. Teachers sometimes focus on particular grammar and punctuation skills as stand-alone lessons if they feel that their class need additional lessons to embed their understanding or to consolidate skills.

At the end of the three stage unit children have the opportunity to utilise their understanding of the text to invent their own creation which provides a more formative assessment opportunity. Children are aware that this stage in the sequence of learning is their ‘Big Write’ and many revel in the opportunity to showcase their learning, enjoying the formal feedback it provides. Internal moderations are then held once a term in order to monitor the progress shown in the Big Writes using the Babcock assessment framework, with annual MAT wide moderations also planned in in order to ensure each school shares the same high expectations.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is that we have a community of enthusiastic readers and writers who are proud to showcase their skills in this subject area. Our children’s English books show a range of learning outcomes with rich evidence of English in a variety of contexts and children’s exposure to rich and varied texts also fosters a love of reading and allows them to become fluent readers. During lesson observations, governor visits and drop in’s it is clear the children share a love of the subject area and are passionate about sharing their work with others. Our attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 is also at least in line with National average.

English in the Early Years

English is one of the seven aspects to the Early Years Framework, known as Literacy and is fundamental to enable a child’s successful development of Reading and Writing as they progress throughout the rest of the school.

In Early years we promote early Reading and Writing through the high quality continuous provision, enabling mark making and early sound recognition throughout their independent time. Within all areas of the classroom there are opportunities for children to mark make in order to represent their ideas, thoughts and feelings and children have access to these at all times. Children are actively encouraged to explore a variety of mediums linked to their interests and often you will find children naming and labelling their Lego creations or using chalk on the playground to create a labelled carpark.

Reading is also seamlessly added to the children’s continuous provision and children often enjoy sharing books outside, sieving words out of sand and fishing for letters in the water tray.

In addition to this, we share a love for reading with various stories that can be shared with the children. Each half term, we focus on a high-quality text and provide opportunities for the children to sequence, re-tell and use role play to develop their own ideas of storytelling.

Our GLD at the end of Early Years is significantly above the national average.

The Curriculum Leader for English is: Emma Spence