Our English Curriculum

It is our intention when teaching the English curriculum that our children acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to become lifelong learners and linguists.  We strive to ensure that all our children receive a well-rounded learning experience when reading, writing, speaking and listening, which will equip them with the fundamental tools to achieve in school and beyond.  It is our intention to immerse children in the wonders of quality texts to instil a love for reading, a passion for discovery and a confidence to explore their imagination through our text-led English curriculum.  English is a core subject of the National Curriculum and a prerequisite for educational and social progress as it underpins the work undertaken in all areas of the curriculum.  The acquisition of language and early reading skills along with a growing vocabulary are of the utmost importance to us here at Lawn Primary School, and therefore the teaching of all aspects of English is given a high priority within school.  Confidence in basic language skills enables children to communicate creatively and imaginatively, preparing them for their future journey through education and beyond.

Using a synthetic phonics approach, Jolly Phonics teaches children the five skills for reading and writing:

• Learning the letter sounds - Children are taught the 42 main letter sounds.  This includes alphabet sounds as well as digraphs such as sh, th, ai, and ue.
• Learning letter formation - Using different multi-sensory methods, children learn how to form and write letters.
• Blending - Children are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words.
• Segmenting (Identifying the sounds in words) - Listening for the sounds in words gives children the best start for improving spelling
• Tricky Words - Tricky Words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately.

the programme continues through the school, enabling the teaching of essential grammar, spelling and punctuation skills

Reading

Reading is a key tool for life.  Teaching children to become confident and fluent readers, by developing a love and passion for reading is a large and exciting part of what we do at Lawn Primary School.  We have lots of opportunities for reading exciting books and materials - supported by a rich, well-resourced library.  Each week, parents and volunteers listen to children read in school and we ensure reading books are carefully matched to ability.  

Children will normally have an hour and a half of English related teaching activities in the morning.  this is a mixture of learning about reading, writing and speaking and listening, which includes a variety of text types and genres.

A wide range of stories and genres are read frequently in class to inspire a life-long enthusiasm for books and all that they offer children and adults alike.  Children enjoy regular guided reading sessions using high quality texts that engage the listener, develop a breadth of vocabulary and support ideas for writing.  We ensure that children are continually being encouraged to read for pleasure through events such as visiting the local library, author visits, celebrating World Book Day and enjoying bedtime stories.

To help develop children's reading skills throughout the school we use popular and well established reading scheme books, which provide the children with reading materials that are pitched at exactly the right level. 'Oxford Reading Tree' is used as the 'core resource', which is supplemented with books from other schemes, for example, books that are phonetic readers, project X, in order to provide an extensive library of books at every stage, to ensure children have a broad and rich reading experience.

Writing - Pathways to Write

To support the National Curriculum for English from Year 1 and the EYFS Development Matters, we follow a whole school mastery approach to writing through the programme Pathways to Write.  Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing.  Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children's vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.

An Overview of Pathways to Write

Pathways to Write is designed to equip children with key skills to move them through the writing process towards their final outcomes.  It is built around units of work that follow a mastery approach to the teaching of writing.  To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to a high-quality text.  Pathways to Write ensures engaging and purposeful English lessons.  The units can be used thematically to encourage a whole school approach to writing with the opportunity for topics to link across year groups.

Each unit covers a range of areas in the National Curriculum:

• Mastery of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation skills
• Writing a range of genres across a year
• Vocabulary development
• Using a wider range of reading comprehension strategies as a whole class
• Spoken language activities including drama and presentations
• Opportunities for practising previously taught genres
• An extended, independent piece of writing

This process follows three stages:

The Gateway (1-2 sessions)

• Begin at the Gateway with a 'hook' session to intrigue and enthuse young writers
• Use objects, people, images or role-play to stimulate questions about the chosen text
• Give children the opportunity to predict the text
• Establish the purpose and audience of the writing
• Revisit previous mastery skills and ongoing skills

The Pathway (10 sessions)

• Introduce children to three new writing skills from their year group curriculum
• Provide opportunities to practise and apply the skills they have learnt through short and extended writing tasks including character descriptions, poetry, dialogue between characters, fact files or diary entries in role
• Provide opportunities to re-cap and apply previously taught skills
• Challenge greater depth writers through a wider range of tasks e.g. changes to form, viewpoint and audience

Writeaway (4 sessions)

• Section and sequence texts independently or collaboratively
• Create extended pieces of writing over time
• Opportunity to apply mastery skills
• Time for planning, writing, checking, editing, redrafting and publishing
• A fiction or non-fiction outcome will be written (covering a wide range of genres and themes over the year)

Handwriting - Kinetic Letters

Kinetic Letters® is a handwriting programme for use in primary and secondary schools.

Four main threads of:

• Making bodies stronger
• Holding the pencil
• Learning the letters
• Flow and fluency

It enables children to develop legible handwriting that is produced quickly and automatically.  With the development of automaticity, handwriting becomes a valuable tool and not a hindrance to learning.

The Kinetic Letters® font covers all the letters in the alphabet and is based on a set of rules that have been made as simple as possible to enable fast learning.  The order in which letters are taught recognises the cognitive development of children.

The programme can be used with any reading programme including phonics.  Initially reading and writing are taught separately (as recommended by phonics programmes); later on, reading and writing are combined.

Strength: Writing is a fine finger operation; children must have core body and arm strength to be able to control their fingers precisely.

Pencil hold: The pencil/pen grip must be comfortable to allow writing for long periods (e.g. exams often last for hours). Pens and pencils with a triangular cross-section assist in developing the correct hold.

Letter formation: The movements to form the letters begin with whole body movements and progress through writing in sand trays to writing on whiteboards and finally writing on paper.  In Kinetic Letters®, all letters and numbers are formed by one of two monkeys, a brave one (Bounce) who goes to the top branch of the tree, and a scared one (Skip) who goes to the lower branches.

Flow and fluency: Letter movements are minimised to help a fast writing style to develop.  There are no lead-in strokes

Speaking and Listening

We support our children in developing the skills necessary to read, write and speak fluently to communicate their ideas and emotions.  Through our exciting and engaging curriculum, we actively encourage our children to communicate their thoughts and ideas.  Children are given the opportunity to reflect on both their learning and feelings.

Children are given the opportunity to speak to an audience in class assemblies and performances.  Children also present their applications for the many volunteer roles available in the school.