English

Intent

At Frithwood School, we strive to give our children the best start in establishing secure foundations in reading and writing. We endeavour to develop skills and knowledge that will empower them to communicate effectively and creatively, through spoken and written language. It is our intention that by the end of their primary education, all of our pupils will be able to: read fluently, with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education; draw on their knowledge of quality literature to further drive their passion for reading and writing and continue on their journeys as life-long readers.

Implementation

Reading

The teaching of reading is progressive throughout our school and starts in the early years through the systematic teaching of phonics via the Read, Write Inc. scheme. This is taught 4 times a week to reception and KS1 children The teaching continues further up the school for children who continue to benefit from such provision. The children progress throughout the scheme until they have completed the programme where they move onto comprehension sessions to deepen their skills of fact retrieval and inference.

In KS2, reading is implemented through opportunities to read a range of texts fluently, with understanding and with a focus on expanding children’s vocabulary. Immersive whole-class reading sessions take precedent in KS2 and we use challenging texts to ensure our reading curriculum offers ambition and challenge. These sessions help to develop fluency but primarily focus on the contextualisation of language and literary devices. We also prioritise establishing a reading culture in which children are encouraged to read widely and for pleasure.

Writing

As a school, we use Pie Corbett's ‘Talk for Writing’ approach by focusing on the oral retelling of various text types, familiar structure become fully embedded in the long term memory so that the children can later apply these structure to their own writing whilst developing the language techniques for the particular areas of focus. In EYFS, we encourage the independent invention of stories, using a simple familiar and repetitive structure.

Impact

Children are enthusiastic about reading and can apply their skills to reading across the curriculum and for pleasure. Children from all abilities and backgrounds progress well in reading including in assessments with gaps in knowledge ad skills filled. Children talk enthusiastically about their reading and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education. As our Year 6 pupils transition to secondary school they will be fluent, confident and able readers who will access the curriculum effectively there and beyond.

Teachers use assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning process and link it clearly to the children’s next steps.

• Formative assessment grids (statements taken from progression map and national curriculum)
• Constructive marking with ‘next steps’ where appropriate. Teachers leave next steps in books when marking to ensure that children know exactly what they need to do next to make progress in their writing and children are encouraged to respond to this in purple pen
• 2 pieces of ‘independent’ per ½ term

The impact on our children is that they have the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a purpose and audience. With the implementation of the writing sequence being established and taught in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and have the ability to plan, draft and edit their own work. By the end of key stage 2, children have developed a writer’s craft,  enjoy sustained writing and can manipulate language, grammar and punctuation to create effect. As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lessons are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific language, grammar and punctuation.