English

English at Latymer All Saints

Intent

At Latymer All Saints, we believe that English and the teaching of English underpins our curriculum. We intend for all our pupils to be confident, independent learners with high aspirations for their future. Our principal aim is to ensure that all children become primary literate and make progress in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Children are immersed in a vocabulary rich learning environment through the use of high-quality texts for reading, writing and spelling; these texts are linked to half-termly themes. This ensures that children at Latymer All Saints are exposed to a language heavy, creative and continuous English curriculum where reading and writing are intrinsically linked.

We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. Stringent assessments and evaluations ensure that we are able to provide focused and targeted support so that all children experience success in literacy. We believe that a secure foundation in literacy skills is fundamental to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Implementation

We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum and framework, that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We employ a broad array of experiences, quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children. We have robust knowledge and skills progression maps in Grammar, Composition, Word Reading, Transcription spelling and Transcription handwriting which inform our yearly overview, medium term plans and weekly planning.

We aim to provide every child with the key skills they require to develop a love of learning that will be with them for their whole life, through high quality teaching and learning experiences. To achieve this, we use the Literacy Tree schemes of work for reading, writing and spelling.

The curriculum builds progressively from EYFS to Year 6 and aligns to the National Curriculum, with children developing the knowledge and transferable skills which allow them to access all areas of the English curriculum. (Please ask to see our progression document and examples of planning, if you would like more detail.)

In EYFS and KS1, we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. This programme also develops vocabulary and builds systematically on children’s’ existing knowledge. Links are made between known and new vocabulary with discussion about the meaning of words. Children who are identified as requiring further support in phonetic understanding in KS2, also benefit from participation in the programme.

From Year 2, classes follow a progressive spelling scheme. Through exploring spelling patterns and rules, our goal is to create confident and competent spellers using a discrete teaching approach underpinned by phonics. Children are also taught to:

Spell accurately and identify reasons for mis-spellings.
Proof-read their spellings
Recognise and use word origins, families and roots to build their skills
Use dictionaries and thesauruses.

We hold an annual Spelling Bee competition every spring to promote high standards in spelling across the school. Children are tested on spellings from an age appropriate book. This provides them with an opportunity to compete in a friendly and supportive environment amongst their peers.

We want all of our children to take pride in their presentation and we advocate a cursive/joined-up handwriting style throughout school. We use the Letter-join handwriting scheme which provides a clear framework and planning for handwriting across the school.

From year 2 onwards, children participate in a whole class reading lesson daily (planned through engaging, quality and age-appropriate texts), and receive interventions as and when required if additional needs are identified. New ambitious vocabulary is pre-taught at the start of each new week allowing children to explore word meaning before it is met in context within the text.

Reading for Pleasure is promoted daily through ‘End of Day’ reading. Reading at home is encouraged and promoted through class incentives and parental engagement sessions.

Poetry is performed regularly, children are given the opportunity to rehearse poems by heart, sharpen and practise their poetry performance skills including confidence, projection, tone of voice and annunciation.

World Book Day is an essential calendar fixture in Latymer All Saints; we recognise how it offers an incredible opportunity to focus on reading for pleasure, supports children's independence in book choice, and embeds a habit of reading that brings a wide range of benefits.

Our Reading Ambassadors support reading across school every week; they have a timetable of children to read with regularly. They share their love of reading anything (newspapers, magazines, comics, sports reports) with other children and help them to choose books from the library that they will enjoy.

We strongly believe in the importance of children becoming competent writers. We understand that writing is a fundamental life skill for effective communication and as a channel for expression and pleasure. Writing is often connected and intertwined with learning in other areas of the curriculum; this gives children an opportunity to apply their growing knowledge to different genres. Frequent opportunities for writing are embedded within the Literacy Tree’s Writing Roots planning using the diverse selection of texts, which helps children to be totally immersed in their reading. Children in our school are taught in vocabulary-rich learning environments, which reinforces their growing understanding of language.

Impact

At Latymer All Saints we aim for continued progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills. Writing is moderated in school termly to ensure the relevant progress can be seen across all year groups. Teachers work in phases to moderate work and feedback to colleagues.

To monitor pupil’s attainment and progress, teachers assess independent writing and record a judgement (using the Literacy Tree RATE system) of where the pupil is working at in relation to the English key skills and knowledge for each year group. These judgements are used to support internal school data which is collected 3 times a year. Formative assessment happens habitually and is attained through targeted questioning during lessons, observations of pupils, review of work and discussions. Key skills and previously taught knowledge are continually revisited during lesson starters; this helps to guarantee that children know more, remember more and can do more. It also offers the opportunity for teachers to assess pupils’ attainment and progress regularly.

We endeavour to celebrate children’s achievements in a variety of ways. This includes whole school displays of writing, celebration assemblies, peer evaluation and whole class discussions. This not only supports pupils’ self-esteem and motivation but raises the profile of the subject throughout the school community.

When children leave Latymer All Saints they have grown in ability and confidence with their writing, reading and oracy. Through exposing children to a broad range of authors and genres they have developed the desire to independently read for pleasure.

Useful website links

Spelling and Grammar

Reading

Writing