English

Statement of Intent
At Barley Mow Primary School, we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion as well as equipping them with the skills to become confident, capable readers and writers who have their own voice and style. We have a rigorous and well-organised English curriculum that provides many exciting, purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion using a range of genre and media. Our curriculum closely follows the aims of the National Curriculum for English 2014 to enable all children to:
● read easily, fluently and with good understanding
● 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
● appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
● 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; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
● are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

These aims are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum.  We will provide the means for children to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. Rigorous assessment and review ensure that we are able to provide targeted support so that all children experience success in literacy; we believe that a secure basis in English skills is crucial to a high-quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Implementation

Writing

When planning English lessons, teachers use high-quality texts as a context for their teaching. Please see our English Curriculum document below for further details of the the genres and text each year group covers . We use a wide range of diverse, engaging texts as a basis for our English units of work. Where appropriate, they may make links to other areas of the curriculum to ensure that cross curricular links provide further context for learning. Ultimately, we want our children to be excited and enthused by what they are writing therefore we regularly review our units of work to suit the needs of our children. Teaching blocks focus on fiction, non-fiction or poetry, in line with the 2014 National Curriculum, and comprehension, grammar and writing are embedded in lessons. Lesson sequences build progressively towards an extended piece of writing. Throughout each unit of work, children are given opportunities to read and analyse model texts,  practise writing skills and aspects of grammar in context and plan , write and edit an extended piece of writing. Modelled and shared writing is used to support the children’s learning including the explicit teaching of new vocabulary to further enrich the children’s writing. Handwriting is also taught within English lessons as well as in separate sessions throughout the week. Work recorded in English books promotes a high level of pride and presentation across all written outcomes.

English Curriculum

English Policy

Progression of Skills in English

Progression of Punctuation (breakdown)

Spelling and Handwriting Policy 

Speaking and Listening

We believe that speaking and listening is an essential skill for all areas of the curriculum. Staff plan and delivery regular speaking and listening opportunities as part of the sequence of English lessons as well as across other areas of the curriculum including drama, role play, partner work, group and class discussion and debates. Children are encouraged to speak clearly and confidently, expressing their views and opinions as well as listening and respecting the views of others. In addition to work in class, children are also given the opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills in school performances.

Assessment

Assessment for Learning is embedded in literacy lessons and children are active in reviewing the successes in their work and identifying, with support from their teacher, target areas for development to ensure a continuous and individualised approach to improving their work. Summative assessment is also used throughout the year to support and inform teacher’s judgements. We follow Gateshead Assessment Profile (GAP) for reading and writing to assess children against.

 

Determined Dinosaurs!

Wow Nursery have been working their socks off this week learning all about dinosaurs for our blaze the trail unit. We started by looking at different species of dinosaurs and their characteristics such as: how many limbs, what they eat and how they move. We practised...

Year 5 Poet Study

In Year 5, the children have been studying the poet, Matt Goodfellow. They closely studied his use of couplets in his poem ‘The Thinking Tree’ before learning and performing another one of his poems. After looking at examples of his work, the children researched the...

All About Winter

This week we have been learning all about winter and the changes which happen at this time of year. We started off by observing the changes which have happened outside in our nursery garden. We noticed that all the leaves on the trees and bushes had fallen off and...

We’re Making a Pizza the Size of the Sun!

Year 4 have started a new English unit this half term based on the poetry of Jack Prelutsky. Today we had a go at performing one of his poems. We studied our poem and practiced our timing, rhythm, intonation and enthusiasm to perform the poem ‘I’m Making a Pizza the...

Christmas in Nursery!

Nursery have worked extremely hard over the Christmas period! We started off by learning about the Christmas story and how it started in Bethlehem. We loved retelling the story during our play using small world figures. This helped us to understand our Christmas...

Letters to Santa.

Reception went to deliver their letters today to Santa, at the nearest post box. Reception have been working hard writing their Christmas lists this week for Father Christmas. We walked to the post box very sensibly and all together we posted our letter to the North...

Year 3 English – The Tunnel

We have been thinking about how authors use descriptions of a character’s body language and actions to show their emotions. We call this “show don’t tell”. For example instead of writing, “Rose was scared,” we might say, “A shiver ran down Rose’s spine and a bead of...

Exploring Vocabulary

In our English lessons, we have been exploring the picture book, 'The Tunnel,' by Anthony Browne. In the story, the older brother crawled into a tunnel that he and his sister discovered on some wasteland. His sister didn't want to go into the tunnel with her brother...

Stay and Play in Reception.

Reception have had such a fun and busy afternoon at their stay and play. Reception got to show their grown ups around their classroom and had the chance to complete lots of different Christmas activities, which included making Christmas trees in the art area with...

Book Fair Competition

Thank you to all who entered our ‘My Favourite Book’ competition! Here are our winning entries. The winners each received a voucher to use at the fair.