English

INTENT

At St. Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School, the teaching of English is embedded across the curriculum. Our aim is to ensure that every child progresses in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. We believe in supporting our children to love reading and writing. In our school, writing is an integral part of our curriculum. We aim to guide and nurture each child on their own personal journeys to become successful writers. We recognise the importance of developing 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 believe in setting high standards in the presentation of writing, along with setting the important foundations in spelling and grammar. We aim to provide exciting opportunties and hooks that engage and enhance the writing of all children at St. Wilfrid’s.

We value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers. We aim to produce confident and fluent readers who are able to ‘read to learn’ once they have learnt to read. We believe that high quality texts, strong modelling of clear and enthusiastic reading by staff and parents and high quality targeted teaching are key elements in fostering a love of reading in children. We believe that the seeds for successful reading are sown in the infants through the use of a rigorous, thorough Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme, regular immersion in high-quality picture books which guide the teaching of Literacy, modelling of reading for pleasure, intonation and expression by staff, maintaining inviting reading areas in every classroom and supportive home-school communication to encourage consistency in the children’s experiences of reading. 

We aim to deliver an English Curriculum that:

• Develops in all children a genuine love and enjoyment of reading and writing.
• Nurtures in all children the ability to express themselves clearly – verbally and in writing; to develop their word choice when speaking and to encourage accurate grammar when speaking in order to aid self-expression.
• Allows children to comprehend and critique what they read, and to write creatively and accurately regardless of genre or topic.
• Exposes all children to a wide range of high-quality texts that explore different styles, plots, tones and cover diverse authors and characters.

These aims are embedded across our literacy lessons and the wider curriculum. We will provide the means for children to develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. Rigorous assessment, moderation and review will ensure that we are able to provide targeted support so that all children experience success in literacy. A secure basis in 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.

IMPLEMENTATION

Early Years Foundation Stage  

At St Wilfrid’s we use Twinkl Phonics as our main Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme. This scheme underpins and guides the teaching of Phonics in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It provides opportunities for children to become familiar with new phonemes through engaging stories and short burst activities that are interspersed throughout lessons, as well as timetabled opportunities to recap prior learning before moving on. Phonics is taught daily and lessons are between 20 and 30 minutes long. Staff are encouraged to teach Phonics during the first session of the day to ensure that children are alert and engaged.

Upon starting school in EYFS, all children are supported to recap Level 1 Phonics to support good listening and early speaking skills. During this period, children will learn to tune into environmental sounds, sing songs to help them develop a sense of rhythm, play games that support their understanding of rhyme and alliteration and will explore oral blending and segmenting of CVC words. When the teaching of Level 2 and 3 begins, children are introduced to first individual letter sounds and later digraphs and trigraphs.

To begin with, phonics is delivered in EYFS by teachers in a whole class input and is supplemented with smaller intervention groups used to support individual needs as and when they arise. As the year progresses, Phonics lessons are later streamed into smaller groups across both EYFS classes based on ability. As the groups are based on need, children will either work their way through the next Phonics level or will begin by recapping prior learning to ensure a solid foundation. In EYFS, staff hear each child read weekly and children are provided with two Phonics-based books to read at home every week that are appropriate to their reading level.

After each Phonics lesson, EYFS children will participate in handwriting activities based on the phoneme they have learnt. The aim of this is to build up solid grapheme-phoneme correspondence. Children who are not yet ready to write will engage with fine motor skills based activities which may include using larger movements to write graphemes in trays of flour or modelling graphemes out of play doh.

In the Early Years, early writing is initially taught through mark marking. When children begin the Twinkl Phonics Programme, they are then taught correct letter formations. This begins with writing common CVC words, either in the air or with a writing tool, and moves onto regular letter formation practice.

Engaging writing activities are planned and provided to inspire children to want to write. ‘Talk for Writing’ strategies are used, as appropriate, to support the writing process. The children are encouraged to write independently in continuous provision, which immerses children in writing for a particular focus and challenges those who are able to access the next stage of their writing journey. Children are also given the opportunity to follow their own interests and write for their own purpose and pleasure. In the Early Years, there are frequent opportunities to practise writing both independently and with adult support.

Key Stage 1

In Year 1, teachers continue to teach daily phonics lessons using Twinkl Phonics systematic phonics programme. The children will begin the year by recapping Level 4 and will cover Level 5 throughout their time in Year 1. Phonics in Year 1 follows much the same structure as in EYFS except mini writing activities are interspersed throughout lessons through the use of mini whiteboards. Short bursts such as these aim to maintain engagement, as well as giving children opportunities to apply their learning on the spot.

By Year 2, the focus of Phonics changes to Spelling. Each week they will learn a spelling pattern that will be consolidated through decodable and common exception focus words. A grammar focus will run alongside each weeks Phonics learning which children will practice in their writing. Lessons are taught as a whole class, however intervention groups will run alongside them to support the children who need to recap prior learning before moving on to more complex spelling rules. Year 2 children will also participate in three guided reading sessions per week which follows the same approach as in Key Stage 2. Children are introduced to the ‘Pawsome Reading Gang’ which are characters designed to introduce essential reading skills such as exploring vocabulary, prediction, sequencing, making inferences and retrieving information.

The systems used to hear children read are left to teacher’s discretion in Key Stage 1. Reading books are organised into Phonics levels and each sub category covers a set of sounds within a Phonics level. Once children are confident reading the phonemes in each category they will be moved onto the next level. Children in Year 1 and 2 are encouraged to take responsibility for changing their reading books themselves and become involved in choosing what they take home to read. Parents are encouraged to write a short comment in children’s reading record each time they read with their child and staff at school will do the same.

In Year 1, children continue to be inspired to use the sounds taught in their phonics learning to write independently during continuous provision. There is a clear writing focus and children have access to sound mats to support them in their independent application. Children partake in English sessions two times weekly. Each session lasts the entirety of the morning and explicit teaching of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation enables children to develop their skills in writing both independently and in small adult-led groups. Writing is taught through a text-based approach, meaning that children are immersed in texts that engage, inspire and motivate. Teachers select picture books, that the children are familiar with, to support their understanding during the writing process. Essentially, the teaching of writing in Year 1 has a mastery focus and we aim for all children to progress and be ready for a more formal structure of learning in Year 2.

In Year 2, children partake in daily English lessons. Each lesson is one hour long. Writing continues to be taught through a text-based approach, but from Year 2, children are exposed to a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts and are encouraged to write for a range of purposes and audiences. Lessons are carefully planned so that writing skills are revisited, as well as new skills taught in a sequential way, which promotes retention of knowledge. Each child has an Independent Writing book and are encouraged to apply writing skills on their own.

Throughout Key Stage 1, each unit of writing is planned and delivered to children through a 3-phase approach. Each unit of writing is around 2 weeks long. Phase 1 immerses children into the carefully chosen text whilst Phase 2 and 3 pay attention to specific grammar skills needed to write well for that specific genre.

Phase 1: Immersion

In this phase, children are introduced to the text type they will be writing. In Year 1, this will always be a story book, whilst in Year 2, children are also given opportunities to explore non-fiction texts. Children are given time to engage, explore, and most importantly, enjoy the text. Through reading the text, children develop their comprehension skills, as well as understand how the meaning of the text is made clear and engages the reader. ‘Talk for Writing’ strategies are vital in this phase, so that children internalise language structures needed to write through talking the text.

Phase 2: Gather ideas

Using the example text, children begin to develop their own ideas and shape these ideas into a plan for their own writing. Explicit grammar teaching takes place. For example, in Year 1, focus is on understanding of basic punctuation, and in Year 2, children are taught to use commas and exclamation marks. In order for children to practise the specific grammar focus, slow writes are used. This is a step-by-step modelled structure, which prompts children to use the skill being taught and supports them in doing so. Children are encouraged to extend and ‘magpie’ rich vocabulary, and examples of this are readily available for children in their learning environment.

Phase 3: Writing stage

Once children have a good understanding of the text and have gathered their ideas, writing can begin! Whole class shared writing is used, in that the teacher models correct writing skills, as well as children contributing their thoughts to the writing process. Teachers will often use ‘deliberate’ mistakes to encourage children to re-read their writing, recognise errors and correct them, without feeling that they have failed. Editing is introduced in Year 2, as children begin to think about how their choices in writing effect the thoughts and feelings of the reader. During this phase, children are encouraged to think like an author, drafting, re-drafting, editing and even publishing their final piece.

All children in Key Stage 1 begin to develop a handwriting style without lead ins and this feeds into the neat presentation of handwriting displayed by children in Years 3-6.

Key Stage 2

Throughout Key Stage 2, children partake in whole class guided reading sessions three times weekly. Each session lasts for half an hour. Guided Reading in Key Stage 2 is planned around a wide range of age- appropriate high quality fiction and non-fiction texts, often linked to the current English learning.

During sessions, children will spend some time engaging in ‘book talk’ using targeted questions and stem sentences that are planned to scaffold their discussions. Texts are read in a variety of ways including by an adult, shared reading as a whole class, shared reading in small groups or by individuals. Children are encouraged to read aloud to practise fluency and to promote speaking and listening skills.

With regards to questioning, ‘VIPERS’ style questions are used throughout the Key Stage as they allow the children to concentrate on key reading skills- vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising (sequencing in Year 2). These may be answered through partnered, group or whole class discussion as part of ‘book talk’ or through written answers as part of an independent activity.

In addition to whole class Guided Reading sessions, children in Key Stage 2 are also exposed to other age appropriate fluency and comprehension activities, including the use of 60 second reads, which aim to expose children to these question types in small doses at a level that is accessible to them. These consist of a short text that children should be able to read quickly, followed by four questions that encourage children to use the ‘VIPERS’ reading skills. 60 second reads are also used in some classes as supplementary activities to support children whose target is to build up stamina for reading.

Writing in Key Stage 2 follows much the same structure as in Year 2. Children continue to partake in daily English lessons, each roughly an hour long. In addition to this, children are exposed to a wider range of high-quality texts, that vary in length and structure. Children are given a language-rich curriculum and use a dictionary or thesaurus to decipher meaning and extend their ever-growing bank of interesting vocabulary. Writing tasks are specific and meaningful and teachers model how to effectively use writing skills to engage the reader.

Children continue to write for an even wider range of purposes and audiences. In Year 3 and 4, children develop their writing skills in persuasive writing and in Year 5 and 6, children are taught to discuss through debate, newspaper articles and balanced arguments. The same 3-phase approach applies to the teaching of writing, continuing to extend childrens’ understanding of grammar and punctuation. This aligns with the English National Curriculum and ensures children are equipped with the writing skills needed to progress year on year and onto Secondary School.

Throughout Key Stage 2, there is greater emphasis on how to plan and evaluate the effectiveness of writing through editing. With regards to editing, the children are introduced to text-level, sentence-level and word-level editing. Initially, children re-read their writing to check that it is cohesive and makes sense. Following this, children review specific sentences and identify how their word choice affects the meaning and purpose of the written piece. Re-drafting and editing takes place independently as well as alongside peers.

Spelling rules are explicitly taught using the Twinkl Spelling Programme. Spelling sessions are taught across the week, in three twenty-minute sessions. Teachers also make spelling rules explicit to children during modelled and shared writing. We expect and encourage children to present their work neatly so handwriting and fine motor skills are practiced throughout KS2. Pencil is used in Lower Key Stage 2, with Year 5 beginning to practise handwriting in pen.

IMPACT

Our English Curriculum should ensure that:

• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s with a love of reading. They are able to reference a wide range of different authors, from different literary traditions and genres.
• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s with a love of writing. They should be able to express their opinions and their creativity in writing that is well structured, clear, technically accurate and interesting to read.
• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s able to express their opinions verbally; to understand how to engage – and disagree – with others clearly and articulately.
• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s having made the best possible progress as a result of consistent, Quality First Teaching and (where appropriate) additional interventions.
• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s confident to try new things, experiment with their writing, take risks, and continue to expand their experience of reading.
• Children leave St. Wilfrid’s feeling that their efforts were valued and their opinions heard. That they have had a chance to find their ‘voice’ and were encouraged to use it.

When you read well, you hear how the parts work together.  Once you can do that, you can create writing from parts to a whole you couldn’t imagine before.