English

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

At Hadnall C.E. Primary School our English curriculum is designed to develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion and prepare our learners for life as successful, valuable and socially responsible citizens. We want all children to be confident, self-motivated and resilient speakers, readers and writers.  The school values of respect, enthusiasm, aspiration, courage and hope underpin everything that we do in school. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum.

We aim to provide opportunities for children to:

Speak clearly, fluently, confidently and listen carefully so that they can communicate effectively in a range of situations;

• Develop their ability to learn through discussion, elaborating and clearly explaining their understanding and ideas;
• Read fluently and with good understanding;
• Develop a love of literature and language;
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information;
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language;
• Write clearly, accurately and effectively for a range of audiences and purposes.

 Above all we want children to enjoy reading and writing; to know how to talk in different situations and have the skills to achieve their aspirations. We recognise the link between reading and writing and strive to build links between the two areas. 

 We ‘promote high standards of literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.' (National Curriculum 2014)

Implementation

Our English lessons develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, teaching children how to write within specific genres and which structural and language features to include.  Good qulaity texts are used to start this process to enable pupils to use other similar writing as models for their own.  Lessons also focus on teaching specific spelling, grammar and punctuation skills to enable our pupils to apply the skills they have been taught to their extended writing and writing across the curriculum. We teach our pupils to speak clearly, to convey their ideas fluently and confidently and to ask questions.

Writing 

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.  

Pathways to Write is designed to equip pupils with key skills to move them through the writing process towards their final outcome. It is built around units of work that follow a mastery approach to the teaching of writing. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to a high-quality text. Pathways to Write ensures engaging and purposeful English lessons.

We chose this approach at Hadnall C.E. Primary School due to wanting to ensure we have a curriculum with clear structure and design. 

Pathways:

• - Supports the development of conceptual understanding across the primary phase.
• - Gives clear sequence and structure to the curriculum
• - Covers the National Curriculum, with space for a local curriculum offer
• - Uses high quality, engaging text.
• - Covers fiction, poetry and non-fiction

 Each unit covers a range of areas in the national curriculum:

• Mastery of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation skills
• Writing a range of genres across a year
• Vocabulary development
• Using a wider range of reading comprehension strategies as a whole class
• Spoken language activities including drama and presentations
• Opportunities for practising previously taught genres
• An extended, independent piece of writing

 This process follows three stages:

 The Gateway

• Begin at the Gateway with a ‘hook’ session to intrigue and enthuse young writers
• Use objects, people, images or role-play to stimulate questions about the chosen text
• Give pupils the opportunity to predict the text
• Establish the purpose and audience of the writing
• Revisit previous mastery skills and ongoing skills

 The Pathway

• Introduce pupils to three new writing skills from their year group curriculum
• Provide opportunities to practise and apply the skill they have learnt through short and extended writing tasks including character descriptions, poetry, dialogue between characters, fact files or diary entries in role
• Provide opportunities to re-cap and apply previously taught skills
• Challenge greater depth writers through a wider range of tasks e.g. changes to form, viewpoint and audience

 Writeaway

• Section and sequence texts independently or collaboratively
• Create extended pieces of writing over time
• Opportunity to apply mastery skills
• Time for planning, writing, checking, editing, redrafting and publishing
• A fiction or non-fiction outcome will be written (covering a wide range of genres and themes over the year)

Spelling

Spelling in KS1 and EYFS is taught through our Little Wandle phonics scheme.  In KS 2 chidlren use Spelling Shed, which has lessons and activities to follow.

Grammar

Grammar coverage is taken from National Curriculum and tied in to text-based planning. Teachers use Pathways to Write resources, EdShed and Grammarsaurus.

Reading

Our pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure and to read widely.

In Classes 1 and 2 children have Little Wandle books, which match their phonic stage.  Alongside this, children can choose books to take home to read with pleasure. 

In Class 3 children read books according to our book banding scheme to ensure that books are matched to reading level.

In Class 4 the majority of children can choose a book to read from the book corner, as a free-reader, to encourage reading for pleasure and expand their knowledge of authors. 

All children have guided reading sessions twice a week with an adult.  We use a wide variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  ‘Vipers’ are used to develop comprehension skills in reading sessions (see below). 

We also provide enrichment opportunities, such as engaging with Bookfest, hosting author workshops and celebrating World Book Day.  These additional experiences help us to enrich the curriculum even further and continue to deepen the children’s learning

VIPERS

We use the VIPERS system to develop comprehension skills.

VIPERS is an anagram to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK's reading curriculum. They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve comprehension of texts.

The 6 domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc. As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and students are familiar with, a range of questions. They allow the teacher to track the type of questions asked and the children’s responses to these which allows for targeted questioning afterwards.

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Key Stage 1

In Key Stage One children reading skills are taught and practised using the VIPERS during whole class reading sessions.

​KS1 Content Domain Reference  [VIPER]

1a draw on knowledge of vocabulary to understand texts  [Vocabulary]

1b identify/explain key aspects of fiction and non-fiction, such as characters, events, titles and information  [Retrieve]

1c identify and explain the sequences of events in texts  [Sequence]

1d make inferences from the text  [Infer]

1e predict what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far  [Predict]

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Key Stage 2

In Key Stage Two children reading skills are taught and practised using VIPERS during whole class reading sessions.

​KS2 Content Domain Reference  [VIPER]

2a Give/explain the meaning of words in context  [Vocabulary]

2b retrieve and record information/ identify key details from fiction and non/fiction  [Retrieve]

2c summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph  [Summarise]

2d make inferences from the text/ explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text  [Infer]

2e predict what might happen from details stated or implied  [Predict]

2f identify/explain how information/ narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole  [Explain]

2g identify/explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases  [Explain]

2h make comparisons within a text  [Explain]

Impact

By the time children leave the school we want all children to make good progress from starting points and achieve their potential.  We want all children to have a love of reading and writing and be able to produce work of a high standard. 

 Long term pupils will:

• be confident in the art of speaking and listening and to be able to use discussion to communicate and further their learning
• be able to read fluently both for pleasure and to further their learning.
• enjoy writing across a range of genres
• Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all English lessons because work will be appropriately scaffolded
• have a wide vocabulary and be adventurous with vocabulary choices within their writing
• have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
• leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught
• make good and better progress from their starting points to achieve their full potential.

 Assessment and Monitoring in English:

The impact of our English curriculum is measured through the monitoring cycle in school:

• Lesson observations, book monitoring and learning walks
• Skills progressing (grammar and punctuation) throughout the school is evident in children’s books.
• Gathering pupil voice – to check understanding, understanding of key skills and knowledge, progression, confidence in discussing English.  
• Moderating pupils work in school and in cluster meetings with other schools to ensure accurate assessments are made
• Pupil progress meetings ensure different groups (including EAL, PP and SEND) and individual progress is monitored, and interventions
• Parents and carers will understand how they can support spelling, grammar and composition and home, and contribute regularly to homework.  

 Hadnall English Curriculum, including progression documents