English
English at Breckon Hill Primary School
Curriculum Intent
“A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.”
The National Curriculum 2014
It is our intent Breckon Hill to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that will teach pupils to speak, read and write fluently.
Phonics will be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners when they start our school, whatever age.
We want our children to be able to:
- read with confidence, fluency and with good understanding
- acquire a wide vocabulary
- understand grammar and use grammar correctly in speech and writing
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- use discussion in order to learn; develop their own voice and opinions and communicate them with others
- be competent in speaking and listening.
Curriculum Implementation
As you would expect Reading and Writing is taught daily. Our phonics and reading page will give more detail.
Reading
Curriculum Intent
Reading is a vital skill that will support children’s learning across the whole curriculum. As a school, we will ensure that our children are taught to read with fluency and understanding through a structured reading approach and cross-curricular learning opportunities.
Curriculum Implementation
Early Reading
We aim to start children’s reading journeys with a passion and enthusiasm for stories and books; alongside building their confidence in decoding and reading for themselves. The teaching of early reading starts with our youngest children in Nursery.
In Nursery we:
- Prioritise high-quality adult-child led interactions and back and forth conversations.
- Deliver our curriculum through the use of carefully selected stories, songs and rhymes
- Share stories/ rhymes aloud every day
- Have adult and child- led activities that develop speaking, listening and oral blending
In Reception and KS1, children are exposed to quality shared reading. Through carefully selected stories and texts children encounter and explore vocabulary that they are unlikely to hear in everyday conversation. Learning poems, rhymes and songs allows children to join in gradually. Each repetition strengthens their vocabulary and embeds new words. Teachers are expert models of fluent reading when reading aloud for the children.
In order for all children to make a strong start in learning to read independently we have adopted the Soundswrite systematic phonics programme from Reception to Y6.
Children in Reception and KS1 take part in daily Soundswrite sessions. These sessions include three Sounds-Write lessons that will review prior learning, teach new learning and applying these to their reading and writing. Children are placed into keep up and catch up interventions where necessary.
Structured Reading Approach
Reading Fluency sessions
Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension. Hamman (2010) defined fluency as ‘Reading at an appropriate rate in meaningful phrases, with prosody and comprehension.
What is Fluency?
Throughout Y2 we teach the Phonics to Fluency Programme to teach fluency and comprehension skills. From Y3-Y5 each class will teach the Phonics to Fluency Programme to their class for the first half term.
For the rest of the year, fluency is taught daily as part of the reading cycle following the steps below:
Comprehension lessons
Before exposing children to a text as part of the reading cycle, we pre-teach and pre-empt barriers as ‘For struggling readers, the ‘before’ is the most important part to level the playing field.’ Alex Quigley
We do this by:
- FRAMING the text – consider how to activate prior knowledge and connect the text with past, present or future knowledge
- REMOVING BARRIERS – pre-empt difficult language & concepts and be prepared to explain when introducing the text
This allows the children to access the text in a way that allows them to develop and apply their reading skills.
‘Lessons should leave children with more knowledge and mental models.’ Alex Quigley
In Year 1, we take a shared reading approach to teach fluency and comprehension using Reading Rocketeers texts. Children experience a daily reading lesson.
In Y2 – Y3 (Autumn term), the Phonics to Fluency Programme is used to teach fluency and comprehension lessons. Children experience a daily reading lesson. We build in verbal comprehension style questions throughout the week using a range of reading strategies (Reading Beehive below)
Y3 (Spring Term) – Year 6 use Reading Explorers, Classics and Top Class Comprehension texts where children experience close reading of a variety of genres including; fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Children experience a daily 45-minute reading lesson. Lessons are presented in a PowerPoint form throughout the week with progressive questions using a range of core reading skills.
The core reading skills we teach are:
- Vocabulary Development: Word Knowledge & Word Choice (Authorial Intent)
- The Retrieval of specific information
- Inference, including Deductive Reasoning
- Evaluative & Summative Assessment of text
- Study Skills that promote wider independent study
As a good reader draws on a range of these strategies at the same time, we teach children use a range of reading strategies simultaneously throughout our reading cycle. These are displayed and referred to during our daily reading lessons.
Home School Books
Each child is given books to read at home. Children are encouraged to read daily at home and reading records are used to be monitored by the class teacher.
In Reception and Y1 books are phonetically decodable at the child’s level. Children also choose a story book for pleasure for parents to read to them. Children who are unable to decode may be given wordless books to promote their story telling skills and language, alongside word cards and key words.
In Year 2, children transition from phonetically decodable books to the Accelerated Reader (AR) programme when ready.
We organise our AR level books into themes, so that children are able to select books that are of particular interest to them. Organising books in this way does not limit pupils and restrict them to only choosing unfamiliar books from a narrow level. Our children will now read within their wide AR reading range, books that will interest and inspire them to read widely and often. (Reading Framework 2023)
In Y2 – Y6 the children take home a book within their wide reading range, choosing from a vast selection of genres, themes and authors independently
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud is a frequent and regular part of each school day across the whole school. Reading aloud slows written language down and enables children to hear and take in tunes and patterns. Teachers model expert fluent reading. It enables children to experience and enjoy stories that they might not otherwise meet giving the children exposure to different places, times and cultures. It also improves the children’s language skills and vocabulary.
All class teachers select a high- quality text to read aloud to their class. EYFS and KS1 expose the children to a range of traditional tales and pictures books. Our EYFS and Year 1 Reading Spines have been specifically selected to match the curriculum topics and to expose children to high quality, rich vocabulary.
Nursery Reading Spine
Reception Reading Spine
Year 1 Reading Spine
Year 2 Reading Spine
In KS2, each year group has a range of class novels that are rotated throughout the year. Each child has their own copy of the novel and follows along as the teacher reads aloud. These books have been selected to represent a range of cultures and characters so that the children at Breckon Hill are able to see characters like themselves (Mirrors) and characters different to themselves e.g. disabilities/ cultures (Windows).
See KS2 overview below:
Curriculum Impact
Reading and writing are assessed and developed through the use of termly assessment task and ongoing formative teacher assessment. This information is tracked termly and is essential for teachers and senior leaders to analyse children’s progress and plan for those children needing specific support which is done through our pupil progress meetings.
The impact of the curriculum is monitored by the subject leader, the English team and senior leaders and evidenced in an annual portfolio. The whole staff are encouraged to reflect on their practice to ensure consistency of provision throughout the school.
Curriculum Impact
Reading and writing are assessed and developed through the use of termly assessment tasks and ongoing formative teacher assessment. This information is tracked termly and is essential for teachers and senior leaders to analyse children’s progress and plan for those children needing specific support which is done through our pupil progress meetings.
The impact of the curriculum is monitored by the subject leader, the English team and senior leaders and evidenced in an annual portfolio. The whole staff are encourage to reflect on their practice to ensure consistency of provision throughout the school.
Writing
Curriculum Intent
“A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.”
The National Curriculum 2014
It is our intent Breckon Hill to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that will teach pupils to speak, read and write fluently.
Phonics will be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners when they start our school, whatever age.
We want our children to be able to:
- read with confidence, fluency and with good understanding
- acquire a wide vocabulary
- understand grammar and use grammar correctly in speech and writing
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- use discussion in order to learn; develop their own voice and opinions and communicate them with others
- be competent in speaking and listening.
Curriculum Implementation
As you would expect Reading and Writing is taught daily. Our phonics and reading page will give more detail.
Get Ready to Write
To prepare children for the year ahead all year groups start the Autumn Term with a Get Ready to Write unit of work. This gives the children opportunities to practise, revisit and repeat their punctuation and grammar skills in order to become fluent with their transcription skills. We use the Place Value of Punctuation and Grammar units of work to teach these skills.
The Writing Process
Engage – Stimulus/ Hook
In order to get the best writing from the children, an interesting and exciting stimulus should be used. This might take the form of a video, letter, image, visitor, scenario, etc.
Explore – Model texts
Model texts are used so that children are able to hear and see what a good example contains. A model text will often be used to introduce the genre and can be used on several occasions throughout the writing process. Model texts will not always be full stories and may be for example a description or an ending etc.
A model text can be explored in the following ways.
– Identify the features and structure
– Text Map
– Explore vocabulary
– ‘Shared write’ a good model/improve an unelaborated version
– What do you like?
– Create the Success Criteria
Sentence Skills – Explicit GPS skills teaching
EYFS and Year 1 Sentence Skills
In EYFS and Year 1 children will begin to develop their transcription and composition skills in order to develop effective writing skills.
Strategies to Develop Fluent Transcription
- Learning how to identifying sounds in words through phonics;
- Teaching ways to spell sounds through phonics;
- Teaching and reinforcing correct letter formation;
- Applying knowledge/skills through dictation.
Strategies to Develop Effective Composition
- Developing language comprehension through speaking and listening to quality text read and repeated;
- Explicit oral teaching of vocabulary;
- Oral rehearsal of sentences;
- Teacher modelling the writing process through orally composing and written scribing.
Year 2-6 Sentence Skills
During the writing process, sentence level and punctuation skills are explicitly taught. These are aspects of grammar and sentence structure that the children will apply to their writing. The Breckon Hill sentence posters and the concrete, pictorial, abstract C.P.A approach from Place Value of Punctuation and Grammar will be used to support this teaching.
We Plan
Children plan their writing. The planning process is modelled by the teacher using a planning frame OR text map. Plans include a success checklist for children and are recorded in English books. During the planning time the teacher and children share plans and magpie ideas.
EYFS/ Y1
Once children are fluent in their transcription skills and as they develop their composition skills they will begin to structure and sequence their sentences. In Y1 the children need to be able to orally compose a sentence before they can write it. Children need to be given time to orally rehearse their sentence or sentences. The children will make adaptations to the text map with the use of post it notes.
See example of a text map plan below:
Y2 – Y6 Planning a piece of writing should follow the structure below.
- Start Sentence
- Supporting detail
Could be decided as a class/by the teacher
Should be very narrow/specific
3 to 4 Supporting Details per paragraph
- Closing sentence (this works for non-fiction and as a transition sentence for fiction)
See planning frame below:
In UKS2, where appropriate children will be able to plan in their own style using the structure above to support them.
We Write – A sentence or paragraph at a time (depending on stage)
This is taught through a shared writing lesson. Teachers model using a visualiser how to expand ideas from the plan into accurate quality sentences using the success checklist. Together the teacher and the class ‘build’ an accurate, high-quality paragraph whilst the teacher models the thinking ‘aloud’, editing and improving process. Children contribute ideas to build the paragraph using the success checklist and including desired sentence types and vocabulary.
I Write – The children write their own
This is the children’s independent writing time. Together the teacher and children review the shared writing from the previous lesson and then remove model. The children use their plans to write. Children focus on sentence types and vocabulary gathered throughout the unit. Children are given opportunities to pause and check their writing against the success checklist throughout lesson (polishing pauses with red pen). Where appropriate, allow time for drafting on whiteboards before committing to paper and orally rehearsing sentences. Time will also be given to edit and polish the children’s writing.
Curriculum Impact
Reading and writing are assessed and developed through the use of termly assessment task and ongoing formative teacher assessment. This information is tracked termly and is essential for teachers and senior leaders to analyse children’s progress and plan for those children needing specific support which is done through our pupil progress meetings.
The impact of the curriculum is monitored by the subject leader, the English team and senior leaders and evidenced in an annual portfolio. The whole staff are encouraged to reflect on their practice to ensure consistency of provision throughout the school.