The English curriculum is divided into main areas of Speaking and Listening, Reading, Phonics, Writing, Spelling and Handwriting. We provide a varied and creative approach to the teaching of English and aim to develop a love of books.
We aim
- To develop children’s ability to communicate and respond effectively.
- To provide a language rich environment that promotes a culture of reading and writing;
- To develop in children an interest in and a love of books and literature that will not only support their learning across the curriculum but also enrich their lives;
- To value and use books as a basis for learning, pleasure, talk and play;
- To teach children the craft of writing in order to develop in children the confidence and skills to write well for a range of purposes and audience;
- Teach the basics – spelling, grammar, handwriting and punctuation
- To foster in children the confidence, desire and ability to express their views and opinions both orally and in writing;
- To value and celebrate diversity in culture and language.
English in the Early Years Foundation Stage
All children in the EYFS follow a broad-based curriculum and have a wide range of opportunities to communicate and develop early reading and writing skills.
Resources are used imaginatively and creatively to stimulate curiosity and excitement about the world around them.
Assessments are observation-based and inform planning to build on prior knowledge and understanding.
Speaking and Listening
Speaking and listening forms a key element of the teaching sequence for writing and is incorporated throughout the teaching phases.
Other strategies include:
- A playful approach to learning where adults model language alongside the children’s play
- Use of learning partners to develop ideas
- Stem sentences and sentence starters e.g. “I think…is the same as …. because”
- Drama sessions and role play areas
- Oral Storytelling using props and small world play
- Language and Word Games
- Chanting, Rhymes and Songs
- A specific focus on developing vocabulary- “word aware”
How we Teach Reading
Reading into writing
Shared reading takes place within English lessons. The teacher models the reading process to the whole class as an expert reader, providing a high level of support. Teaching objectives are pre-planned and sessions are characterised by explicit teaching of specific reading strategies, oral response and high levels of collaboration. The children join in, where appropriate with the reading of the core text. The texts selected are high quality texts that reflect the teaching objectives, text type or classroom topic. We dig deep into our core books which provides lots of repetition which helps all children to develop their language, vocabulary and comprehension.
Reading
Children have daily phonics sessions taught in whole class groups. These involve regular practice of reading and spelling sight words.
Children read regularly with adults- more frequently if they require extra support. They have many opportunities to read for pleasure in each class’ book area or the reading caravan.
Reading sessions support children to decode and also retrieve information and ideas from the text and teaches them to read between the lines and make connections both with other texts and with wider experiences. (reading comprehension)
Library
Our library provides a wide variety of books, texts and other printed materials in a range of genres including fact, fiction and poetry.
How We Teach Writing
Writing is closely related to reading, with the two activities reinforcing each other. We aim to develop a positive attitude to writing and to extend the children’s abilities to express their thoughts and ideas on paper, thus enabling them to communicate clearly through the written word. We use core texts that link to the topic in order for children to experience the link between reading and writing.
To enable children to develop as effective writers we will teach them to:
- Write for a range of purposes and genres
- Plan, draft, revise and edit their own writing
- Organise and structure sentences grammatically and whole texts coherently
- Use accurate punctuation and spelling
- Have fluent and legible handwriting.
When children are writing adults will:
- Support the child to structure their ideas
- Revise, edit and improve, giving feedback during the process and encourage children to check their own writing
How we teach Spelling
Spelling enables us to become more effective writers. As part of our phonics sessions children learn to read and spell common words. Once remembered this frees up thinking time for the content of what they are writing.
How we teach Handwriting
Letter formation and pencil control is developed in the EYFS curriculum as part of learning in Physical Development and writing (linking the letter formation with the letter sounds).
In Year 1 these skills are embedded and developed further through regular practice.
By Year 2 we include a discreet session, delivered at least twice a week to help children develop a fluent style ready for joining letters together.
Helping at home
Ideas and resources can be found in the parent section on this website.
Assessment
Progress is tracked and evaluated to
- Identify pupils in need of either support or extension
- Identify areas of difficulty or areas of strength
All of this evidence contributes to the overall picture of achievement for each child. All of our assessments inform future learning.
