WELCOME TO OUR ENGLISH PAGE!
Intent – What are we trying to achieve?
It is our aim for all children to learn to speak, read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, enabling them to become independent, confident and creative learners. Through our teaching of English, we aim to nurture within children, a love for books - reading for their own genuine enjoyment and pleasure. Therefore, it is our philosophy that children should engage in a curriculum that inspires their reading, writing and spoken language.
Implementation – How can we ensure our intent is put into practice?
Reading
Reading is taught through practice (reading to learn), reading for meaning and reading for pleasure. We will ensure there is:
• High quality phonics in EYFS and KS1 through Read Write Inc
• Access to high quality books which promote diversity and the vision and values of our school
• Cleary structured Whole Class Reading lessons which will focus on key reading skills (VIPERS)
• Time for free reading and reading for pleasure
• High parental engagement to harness enthusiasm and ensure the reading culture extends to home.
• A love of reading in the classroom- discuss books, set a good example, ambassadors/ class librarians
Writing
We use a book-based curriculum where children are exposed to high quality texts and visual stimuli which will spark imagination and inspire ideas for writing. We want children to write for a purpose and audiences. This is developed in KS2, with children enhancing their understanding of a writer’s craft and seeing themselves as authors. Writing purposes (see below) are repeated across the key stages to consolidate their understanding of text types and to enhance skills in writing. Writing to discuss is introduced in Year 5 and repeated in Year 6.
We will:
• Ensure children have experience of a breadth of texts including those that are visual and digital
• Provide a range of meaningful opportunities to write for real purposes and audiences and to respond to writing as a reader
• Understand and model the processes of writing authentically
• Use creative teaching approaches that build imagination and give time for oral rehearsal
• Celebrate writing through authentic publication and presentation across platforms
Handwriting, Spelling and Grammar
We use the Letter Join Handwriting Scheme from Year 2. Handwriting is taught each week from Reception to Year 6, beginning with mark making and patterns in the Early Years all the way up to legible, controlled and joined handwriting in Year 6.
Spelling is taught weekly and instead of rote memorisation, lessons focus on how spelling works, enabling students to decode new words by understanding their system.
Grammar is taught both within broader English lessons and in targeted, discrete sessions. As children advance, they learn to use grammatical structures to write for various purposes, such as informing, entertaining, or persuading, by employing specific sentence models and vocabulary. They then apply these skills to create coherent paragraphs and original texts, demonstrating their growing command of language across the entire curriculum.
EYFS
We believe that communication and language, with opportunities to explore reading and writing, underpins children’s future learning. The practice in Reception follows the DfE curriculum guidance and works towards the Early Learning Goals aiming to meet the goals by the end of reception year.
In reception the daily routine will include planned and child-initiated activities that include:
- a wealth of opportunities to develop and experience speaking and listening;
- experiences that develop gross and fine motor skills through play and handwriting activities;
- sharing and enjoying a range of rhymes, songs, stories and books;
- immersion in a print rich environment with opportunities for oral language and written communication e.g. differentiated phonic activities;
- focus activities that teach children early communication language and literacy skills.
- reading groups which are central to the week
- big book activities with a shared reading and writing focus each week
We are a reading for pleasure school and have creating an environment where reading is championed, valued and respected. We celebrate this through vibrant reading environments, visits to our local library, exciting subject weeks and days and celebrating our love of reading within our community. We have recently received The Enfield Reading for Pleasure Mark where is was noted that:
Your commitment to fostering a vibrant reading culture is truly inspiring. The outstanding reading environment you have created is evident in the way pupils engage in rich, meaningful conversations about books. Their enthusiasm and depth of knowledge reflect the passion and dedication of your team. It is wonderful to see how eloquently pupils can discuss their reading experiences, demonstrating both confidence and a genuine love for literature. The carefully curated selection of diverse books ensures an inclusive and welcoming space where every reader can find something to connect with. Well done on this well-deserved achievement!
