English Policy
Rationale
The study of English develops the children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children become empowered to interpret the world around them and to make sense of their experiences; in this sense English is a tool for both our thinking and learning.
Aims
The aims of teaching English are: Spoken English
- To enable children to speak with clarity, confidence and expression, and to take account of the their audience, purpose and differing situations
- To encourage children to listen with concentration to others, to respond and build on their ideas and views and identify features of language used for specific purposes
- To show children how to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands.
- To teach children effective communication, both verbal and non-?verbal through a variety of drama activities.
Reading
- To use phonological awareness to decode words.
- To help children read with fluency, accuracy, understanding and enjoyment.
- To help children to become confident, independent readers with an interest in words and their meanings
- To develop enthusiastic and reflective readers, through contact with challenging and substantial texts.
Writing
- To use phonological awareness to encode words.
- To write neatly with the agreed cursive script
- To help children express themselves clearly and precisely for enjoyment.
- To enable children to communicate with accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling.
- To enable children to write for a range of purposes; narrative and non-?fiction with an awareness of the audience.
- To have weekly opportunities to write a sustained piece of independent writing.
- To enable children to improve their planning, drafting and editing of their work.
EYFS
By the end of the Foundation Stage, children should:-?
Speaking and Listening
- Listen attentively in a range of situations.
- Listen to stories, anticipate key events and respond with relevant comments, questions or actions.
- Respond appropriately to others.
- Follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
- Answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.
- Express themselves effectively, showing awareness of the listener’s needs.
- Use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events.
- Develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.
Reading
- Read and understand simple sentences.
- Use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately.
- Read some common irregular words.
- Demonstrate understanding when talking to others about what they have read.
- Use phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds.
Writing
- Write some irregular common words.
- Write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others.
- Spell some words correctly and others in a phonetically plausible way.
Primary English Curriculum
The English Programme of Study is based on four areas:
- Spoken language< >ReadingWritingSpelling, grammar and punctuation
The National Curriculum is divided into three key Stages: Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4) and Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 & 6).
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the skills and processes specified in each relevant programme of study.
Planning
It is the responsibility of the class teacher to plan work for the pupils in their class. Planning is based on EYFS and National Curriculum following key texts from The Power of Reading.
Medium term plans are prepared for the beginning of each half term, short term planning is done weekly and identifies specifically, the learning intention, the teacher’s and teaching assistant’s roles, the activities, groupings and differentiation.
Phonics/Spelling
Children are assessed and grouped appropriately (in EYFS and KS1) for daily phonics lessons using ‘Letters and Sounds’. Assessments for the five phases in phonics take place twice a year.
Reading
Reading is also taught as a discrete subject outside the English Lesson. All children should be listened to in reading by an adult at least three times a week. Children in Year 1 have guided reading sessions specifically aimed at their ability.
A range of reading schemes (including a variety of phonics readers) are used to support early readers. Children are encouraged to read daily at home and for parents/carers to comment in the home-?link book. We encourage parents to read to their children at home as often as possible throughout their child’s primary education as we believe it not only enriches a child’s vocabulary, but also helps with inferential skills and supports a lifelong love of reading. Children at Sibertswold are encouraged to enjoy books; they have regular opportunities to borrow books from the new library and take books to the Quiet Garden at break times. Literacy is at the heart of curriculum planning so that subject matter from other curriculum areas is available as content or stimulus for speaking, listening, reading and writing. All curriculum areas will involve some aspects of Literacy.
Writing Progression of Knowledge and Skills Document Download
Reading Progression of Knowledge and Skills Document Download
