English
Intent
What is the point of English?
- To help children to communicate with others and express themselves adequately and appropriately.
- To give children the tools to speak well, write well, read well and perform the written word well.
- To empower children to enjoy language and the power of words.
It is important because it helps children to conduct independent research; understand modern life in the context of culture; argue a point, debate, empathise, have opinions; help imaginations, encouraging children who enjoyed creative play in concrete terms in KS1 to continue to use their imagination with abstract ideas in KS2; to see the difference between formal and informal writing and reading; to learn what genre of writing is powerful in a given situation and how to improve it with choice of language and structure.
We want children to leave PPS with:
- Resilience – correcting and editing time to be included in every lesson. The ability to edit, proofread and evaluate is vital for improving written skills.
- Inquisitiveness – research (comprehension) to learn more about a given topic, create posters/adverts/persuasive texts/reports/ prospectuses that can highlight their interest.
- Creativity – unleash the children’s imagination through offering opportunities to write narratives and choose what they write within a given topic/theme.
- Independent thinking – debating, Conscience alleys, arguments, group work on tables and in mixed ability groups.
- Good communication – Talk! Enlarge vocabulary and spoken skills.
Implementation
In the earlier years of education, reading (through systematic synthetic phonics) and writing (applying phonic knowledge) are inseparable.? In the Foundation Stage there is a balance of daily phonics and writing teaching. In KS1, phonics is taught daily and the teaching of writing takes place daily too. Our phonics programme is RWI.
Reading is taught through small group guided reading sessions and within class learning. From Year 1 to Year 6, children will read in small guided groups with the teacher once a week, and the teacher will teach the skills required to be an effective reader.
All children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 have English lessons once a day, which include whole-class study and analysis of a reading book, visual animation or text as well as writing opportunities. In addition, the teacher will read a variety of core texts to the class over the school year, often linked to a topic being studied, which aid children to improve reading skills and widen the opportunities for them to hear a wide variety of literature.
Within English lessons, teachers introduce spelling, handwriting and grammar skills. Each week the teaching will include a writing enrichment (an extended period of independent writing).
