ENGLISH
ENGLISH
OVERVIEW:
English is broken down into four components:
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Speaking & Listening
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Phonics
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Reading
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Writing
Each component is described in more detail below.
SPEAKING & LISTENING
INTRODUCTION:
Nothing on current website
PHONICS
INTRODUCTION:
At St. Stephen’s, we are very excited to now be using Rocket Phonics Programme to deliver our daily phonics lessons. Rocket Phonics is taught in classes Nursery – Year 3. Rocket Phonics is a complete phonics programme which helps all pupils to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.
Rocket Phonics is a rigorous programme which ensures all pupils ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’. The steady pace and progression deeply embed knowledge and skills from the start, ensuring all pupils are exposed to the full phonics teaching sequence at a pace suited to the individual. This programme develops essential literacy skills, as there is a balanced approach to blending for reading and segmenting for writing. Finally, the programme includes a range of captivating and engaging resources, which enlivens our phonics lessons. Our aim at St. Stephen’s is to ignite a love of reading and writing with this story-based programme.
The Teaching of Phonics:
Daily Phonics lessons are taught to all pupils from Reception to Year 3 as a whole class session. Phonics lessons are between 20 and 30 minutes in duration, depending on the age of the cohort. If a child is deemed to be working at a lower level than their peers, an intervention will be created and delivered. This will be detected through regular and thorough assessment. However, we believe that these specific pupils, must and will, have access to the whole class quality-first teaching. Their intervention time will take place outside of the whole class phonics lesson.
Similarly, in Key Stage Two, if pupils are identified as working below expected level in reading and were one of the small percentage who did not meet expected requirement in the Phonics Screener Check, they will receive small group/1:1 phonics intervention.
EYFS:
In Nursery, Phonics lessons largely focused on the general sound discrimination (environmental, instrumental sounds and body percussion) as well as rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and voice sounds. A focus on language development is imperative in Nursery and because of this, as the pupils progress into the spring term, the Rocket Phonics approach will be introduced. The traditional Rocket Phonics teaching sequence is adapted slightly and matches a child’s speech sound development (/p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/).
Each week, pupils will be introduced to one new letter sound. All phonics sessions and aspects of the child’s continuous provision will focus on this also. Pupils will also have a ‘mark making’ exercise book. Depending on the child’s ability and phonic knowledge, they will use this exercise book for a range of activities. For example: practising writing the letter shape (letter over writing), draw pictures beginning with the target sound or simply to begin their mark making journey. Resources from the Rocket Phonics programme i.e., frieze wall display, will be displayed in the classroom and teacher will refer to this when delivering phonics sessions. As previously stated, no formal teaching of phonics will take place until the child enters Reception the following year.
In Reception, pupils are formally introduced to phonics lesson. Pupils are introduced to the letter sounds and a mnemonic system to support letter-sound correspondence. The pupils develop their phonological awareness through listening carefully in a variety of contexts before beginning to learn initial sounds and then use this knowledge to blend sounds to read words. In addition to this, pupils will complete a pupil practice booklet, where the focus is on identifying the letter shape and letter formation. Pupils will focus on two graphemes per week. Common Exception Words are introduced weekly and will be uploaded onto tapestry for children to practise at home.
READING
INTRODUCTION:
At St. Stephen’s, we provide a high quality, ambitious approach to the teaching of reading. Our aim to implement a systematic approach to the teaching of the technical skills of reading whilst also promoting a love of reading for pleasure. Our aim is that every child becomes a confident reader who is able to read and understand a wide range of texts across the curriculum.
Phonics
A consistent and rigorous approach to the teaching of phonics is vital to provide children with a solid start to their reading journey. At St. Stephen’s, we follow a DfE approved Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme: Rocket Phonics. Rocket Phonics is designed to teach children how to read through the act of decoding and blending - teaching children how to make links between spoken sounds (phonemes) and the written representation of these sounds (graphemes). Our pupils in Early Years and KS1 have dedicated Rocket Phonics lessons every day. Where pupils in KS2 are identified as needing further support with phonics, they continue to access daily phonics and reading interventions.
Guided Reading lessons
In addition to phonics lessons, pupils in KS1 access daily guided reading lessons. Guided reading lessons are planned to expose pupils to a wide range of literature with a focus on developing their vocabulary, sentence structures, inference skills, comprehension skills and a love of literature. As children move into KS2, reading lessons provide opportunities to further expose children to a wide range of fiction texts, non-fiction texts, video clips, extracts, poems and articles. During these lessons, children are supported to develop their confidence in understanding unknown vocabulary, inferring and deducing ideas beyond the text, linking ideas and identifying themes within and across texts.
English lessons
Sequences of learning in English are carefully planned to immerse pupils in a wide range of genres and texts, with a focus on developing their reading ability and skills. We use Talk for Writing as an approach to writing within school which provides strong links to our Talk for Reading curriculum. Progression is ensured as objectives are taken from the National Curriculum programmes of study. In these lessons, children are provided with opportunities to apply the skills they have learnt in their reading lessons. During these sessions, we use a carefully selected reading spine to introduce a range of different genres. Our Talk for Reading genres are:
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Cumulative Tales
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Wishing/Warning Tales
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Conquering the Monster Tales
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Journey Tales
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Portal Stories
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Adventure Stories
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Losing and Finding Tales
1:1 Reading
Throughout Reception and KS1, all pupils read with a member of staff in a 1:1 setting at least once a week. This provides the teacher with the opportunities to closely assess the skills children are developing and to ensure children are reading books at an appropriate level. Where pupils are identified as needing extra support, these children have access to additional 1:1 sessions. In KS2, where pupils are identified as reading below the expected standard, class teachers/support staff read with those pupils 1:1 at least three times a week.
Reading for Pleasure
As well as wanting our children to be confident readers, we also want to take them on adventures to new worlds, meet a variety of characters and escape into a world of imagination. At St. Stephen’s, we support children to identify books they enjoy through daily reading for pleasure in every class. During these sessions, we use our carefully selected reading spine to introduce a range of different genres. We have a well-equipped ‘Reading Village’ which all children are able to access at least once a week to choose their own texts. We have attractive and inviting story corners, home reading ‘book swap’ boxes and interactive displays in school to promote and foster a love of reading.
Home reading
Pupils in Reception and KS1 take home a phonics book that has been carefully chosen based on the range of phonemes children have shown a competency in segmenting and blending. This ensures children can read these books at home competently, leading to a more successful and enjoyable experience for all. Children are also provided with a second book each week - again, closely matched to their phonics competency – however this book is one they can share with an adult, to extend their vocabulary and provide a challenge. We also have access to Reading Planet Online, a platform where each child is assigned a third book each week in the form of an online book. This book is shared by the children’s class teacher and is closely matched to their reading level. Children are encouraged to read regularly at home through the use of reading records and incentives.
WRITING
INTRODUCTION:
Our English curriculum is aligned to the National Curriculum programmes of study and appropriate aspects of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Units of learning are delivered through the three main strands, which are:
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Fiction
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Non – Fiction
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Poetry
Within each of the themes, each unit is constructed similarly to those for reading, with a focus on:
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transcription (spelling and handwriting)
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composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in oral and written form)
In addition, pupils should be taught how to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. These aspects of writing have been incorporated into the programmes of study for composition.
Interwoven regularly, throughout each unit of study and individual lesson plan, is a plethora of general speaking and listening activities, as well as tailored opportunities for communication and language skill development. For example: Pupils are encouraged through role play, practical tasks and carefully planned activities in the continuous provision (EYs - both indoor and outdoor) to orally retell familiar tales – with a 3-part story structure – beginning, middle and end. Songs and rhymes play a significant role in the EYs and nurturing this is the most key factor in developing good communicators and readers, who will eventually become good writers.
Here, at St. Stephen’s, we recognise that communication and language is the bedrock of an effective curriculum and essentially is the skill needed to enable children to access and develop in any of the seven areas. As communication and language is key to any child’s educational, personal and social success, staff ensure that our curriculum promotes 5 key aspects:
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an enabling and stimulating environment where high quality, language rich discussions can take place
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carefully planned and executed activities/tasks which provide our pupils with the opportunity to practise using new vocabulary through a wide range of adult directed tasks
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independently interact with their peers and adults applying newly taught vocabulary in context specific tasks (child initiated)
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opportunities for risk taking and exploring new language and language structure – both orally and in written form
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reading for pleasure is habitual and led by adults in class and independently encouraged by pupils
Our hope is that as pupils transition from EYFS to KS1, they are equipped and fully prepared for their next stage of learning, having a sound grasp on language, having developed a wide repertoire of vocabulary and an ability to utilise this language effectively. In doing so, this will enable all pupils to access a more formalised curriculum in KS1, KS2 and beyond.
Talk for Writing
The main vehicle, which drives the delivery of our English curriculum is, Talk for Writing; an approach which is embedded throughout the school, from Nursery to Year 6. The Talk for Writing teaching model is an approach to teaching writing that encompasses a three-stage pedagogy: imitation, innovation and invention. Each stage aims to improve our pupils’ writing ability by giving them an understanding of the structure and elements of written language.
Talk for Writing, coupled with carefully planned provision, ensures that a rigorous approach to embedding and developing language is always at the forefront when planning or delivering any activity, particularly in early years setting, but within both KS1 and KS2, too.
Approaching our English curriculum in this way, ensures that teachers gradually introduce concepts (grammar/vocabulary/spelling rules etc), as opposed to overloading lessons and trying to master a concept or topic all at once. Concepts or subjects are revisited over time and reinforced at the beginning of the unit or lesson. It’s recurring or cyclical nature, ensures that pupils have many opportunities to revisit, revise and learn new skills/knowledge which increases in complexity throughout each unit of study and throughout the academic year.
Fiction - writing
For example: Within the Early Years setting, pupils are exposed to a wide range of cumulative tales and rhyming songs/texts. This embeds basic story language and structure. As the EYs pupils progress into Key Stage One, a range of text genres are introduced such as: portal, journey and adventure tales, thus, exposing pupils to differing story text structures, core grammatical and story language as well as exposure to ambitious vocabulary. Within Key Stage One (primarily Year 1), pupils will have the opportunity to revisit cumulative tales through their guided reading and later Talk for Writing units. In doing so, we provide pupils the opportunity to revisit prior learning and overlearn, forge strong and authentic links with current learning and it ultimately provide a catalyst for new learning.
Non – Fiction – writing
Our Non-Fiction writing curriculum has been divided into subcategories which provide children with the knowledge and understanding of all possible features of a range of non-fiction texts.
The non-fiction units of study are intricately linked to the fiction writing curriculum. The purpose of our writing curriculum is to ensure that pupils can write accurate and well-structured texts, include ambitious sentence structures and a wide range of vocabulary for a range of audiences and purposes. Therefore, in English lessons, pupils will be taught the skill of how to write in a particular style or genre, rather than spend several lessons researching the content for a report or fact file. Much of the learning sequence will be focusing on developing core writing skills as opposed to finding out facts about the River Nile for a project based on Ancient Egypt. Pupils then focus their attention on writing a clear, coherent and well –structured piece of writing as they will draw upon their associated knowledge taught in earlier unit of work.
As pupils reach KS2, they are introduced to a range of increasingly difficult text types, however, the foundations have been laid in Early Years and KS1 - embedding the key elements to support the next stage of their writing journey. For example – Instructional writing naturally progresses onto a more in-depth explanation text. As the pupils have been taught this in a range of contexts and topics, the pupils will be able to draw associated knowledge and build on their next layer of learning.
Progression documents ensure key learning is identified within each unit covered and, as part of our spiral approach, supports teachers in accurately referencing prior learning and next steps. Units of learning are carefully planned and sequenced, so pupils have opportunities to acquire and apply both skills and knowledge.