English
Who can I speak to about English?
Your child’s class teacher will be able to answer any questions about your child’s reading, writing and SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar). You can also speak to the following people:
Dr Kirby - English Lead
Dr Kirby - Phonics and Early Reading
Miss Williams - Reading Lead
Mrs. Hawthorne - Writing Lead
Curriculum Intent
At Lickey Hills Primary School and Nursery, our intent is to instil a lifelong appreciation of literature. Our curriculum is designed to promote and develop a love of language and literature by providing the children with the necessary skills to become confident fluent English speakers, readers and writers. Click here for the full English Policy and go to your child’s year group page for the reading and writing objectives.
Implementation
English skills and concepts are sequenced in a way that they are progressively challenging and build on prior skills and knowledge, accommodating the 2014 National Curriculum. Our English curriculum is one that is rich in talk and story, where children experience the joy of books, hearing high quality texts read aloud every day, whilst rapidly acquiring the skills to become fluent independent readers and writers.
Oracy Skills
Opportunities to listen carefully and to communicate effectively with others are incorporated throughout our curriculum. Children are encouraged to discuss problems and ideas in pairs or groups and to feed this back to the class. We role-play activities, use drama and conscience alleys in addition to orally rehearsing sentences, in EYFS and KS1, so children can work through their thoughts and structure them before writing. In addition, pupils participate in termly poetry-slam performances (which aim to develop their expressive capabilities) and public speaking competitions (which seek to increase articulacy and confidence).
Phonics and Early Reading
Phonics provides the key foundation for reading, writing and spelling. This begins with phase 1 phonics (Letters and Sounds) in Nursery and feeds into the carefully sequenced Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) phonic programme, from Reception to the end of Year 1 when the National Phonics Screening Check is taken. Children take home reading books closely matched to their phonic ability to ensure every child becomes a confident, fluent and passionate reader, quickly.
Phonics and Early Reading - Parent Presentation
Phonics Screening Check - Parent Presentation
Reading
Once children have ‘cracked the phonic code’, pupils continue to improve their decoding and fluency skills, through levelled reading books (Oxford Reading Tree) and reading for pleasure through a shared reading book in KS1 or ‘free-reader’ book in KS2. Being able to read fluently and with understanding is the key to unlocking learning across the whole curriculum. Therefore, the teaching of comprehension strategies (EEF) are taught alongside opportunities for practising fluency and expanding vocabulary. We call these ‘VIPERS’ sessions and use the reading prompts derived from the 2016 Reading Test Framework’s content domains. V - Vocabulary I – Inference P - Prediction E - Explaining R – Retrieval S – Summarising and Sequencing. Through these 3x weekly sessions, the teacher models the text conveying meaning through their voice, facial expression, phrases and sentences, to help develop the children’s understanding of authorial intent. To gain an insight into these VIPERS lessons take a look at our curriculum corner article.
Reading Curriculum Corner - summer 2024
Please refer to your child’s year group webpage for our latest reading and writing parent workshops.
Writing
From KS1, writing is taught on a daily basis and each sequence of learning begins with an opportunity for pupils to acquaint themselves with one of our selected core texts (‘Power of Reading’ (https://clpe.org.uk/). By exposing pupils to outstanding extracts of prose, poetry and non-fiction, which are subsequently critiqued, pupils are inspired to write, using the features of the text that have been explicitly taught.
LHPSN follows a ‘Purpose for Writing’ approach (Michael Tidd’s Writing for a Purpose Framework):
KS1 Focus: Writing to Entertain and to Inform
LKS2 Focus: Writing to Inform, Entertain and Persuade
UKS2 Focus: Writing to Inform, Entertain, Persuade and Discuss
This approach enables children to begin to recognise the features of each purpose for writing, rather than each genre. Through the multi-step writing process of drafting, editing and revision, the children are taught how to improve their own work and to write a range of descriptions, stories, information texts, poetry, adverts, newspaper articles, and biographies. For further information on the writing process please click on the links below and to see this in action please take a look at our curriculum corner.
Writing Curriculum Corner - summer 2024
End of year expectations: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6
Please refer to your child’s year group webpage for our latest reading and writing parent workshops.
Grammar
Explicit teaching of grammar skills necessary to understand and apply literary devices. Children will identify these in modelled texts (WAGOLLS) and apply this knowledge through their writing. From the end of Y1 through to Y6, grammar starters to English lessons ensure children revisit these essential skills often, to make certain they are securely embedded.
Spelling
At LHPSN, it is our priority to ensure that all pupils have the ability to spell words efficiently and accurately whilst drawing on knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns. In KS1 the emphasis is on phonics with the spelling strategy using oral rehearsal; the children say the word before breaking it down into the single units of sound (phonemes). As children enter KS2 the ‘No-Nonsense Spelling Scheme’ is used in accordance with the National Curriculum (2014). Spelling rules are taught explicitly whilst subsequent sessions focus on applying acquired knowledge.
Handwriting
From the beginning of Reception children are taught to form each letter of the alphabet correctly, whilst learning the letter name and its sound. From the end of year 1 onwards children are taught to write in a cursive style and through Year 2, they secure this and begin to learn how to join letters. By the end of year 2 the expectation is that all children will be using a legible, cursive style of handwriting and as such will receive a pen on the transition to KS2.
Impact
Formative and summative assessments are carried out regularly to ensure pupils are accessing books of the right level and are being challenged in their reading. At the same time, we expose children to a culturally rich and diverse range of books to ensure that children read for pleasure and learn to love reading.
The impact of reading success in our school is measured through the following:
• Pupils will be secure in their phonic knowledge and develop strategies to independently decode unfamiliar words
• Pupils will be able to read with automaticity and fluency
• Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all reading lessons
• Pupils will comprehend what they have read and be able to discuss this with others
• Pupils will enjoy reading across a range of genres
• Pupils will have a good knowledge of a range of authors
• Pupils will read for pleasure and will talk about books they enjoy
Formative assessments in writing are ongoing, with a termly summative assessed write that tracks progress against end of year outcomes.
The impact of writing success in our school is measured through the following:
• Pupils how high levels of engagement and exhibit positive attitudes towards writing
• Pupils accurately apply taught grammar, punctuation and spelling skills
• Pupils correctly form their letters, joining with a cursive style, to write fluently and legibly
• Pupils write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language for a range of purposes (to entertain, inform, persuade and discuss)
• Pupils know how to edit and improve their writing
What you can do to help:
LHPSN recognises and values the important role parents play in education, so we hold workshops throughout the year and encourage an active partnership with the school. Research shows that reading with and to your child is the single most important thing you can do to help your child’s education; reading can stimulate your child’s imagination, increase their vocabulary and generate ideas for them to write. Please support us, and your child, by hearing them read!
Take a look at some of the web links below for inspiration:
