English

INTENT  

At Leesland CofE Federation we encourage children to become enthusiastic readers and writers and make learning irresistible. English provides a rigorous foundation for which pupils can build the skills necessary to be successful across the curriculum. Our aim is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong understanding of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for pleasure.  Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing. At Leesland, carefully structured learning journeys form the basis of the teaching of reading, writing and spelling. Pupils have opportunities to explain and discuss their understanding of a variety of high-quality texts and genres in order for them to write for a range of audiences and purposes.  We use drama and improvisation to engage the pupils and rehearse, refine and share ideas from which to write high quality pieces.

Robust text drivers and visual stimuli inspire a purpose for writing in all learners with links to foundation subjects, which build a holistic curriculum.  Writing across the curriculum engages pupils in a range of subjects and demonstrates the progression of skills through the school.

IMPLEMENTATION

Using the National Curriculum as our starting point, we will ensure that all pupils:

• Produce high-quality, creative, final outcomes which can be assessed against the objectives and show progression of skills throughout the academic year.
• Make visible progression from September to July and through year R to 6, as children master each skill and it becomes embedded.
• Deepen and enhance the learning experience, create greater opportunities to immerse the children in each rich stimulus and draw out high-quality vocabulary and inspiration for writing.
• Have the opportunity to discuss, edit and evaluate their own work to make corrections, improvements or to create a desired effect.
• Access texts which complement subjects covered in other areas of the curriculum, making links to subject matter vocabulary, history, fictional characters and enable the children to make further connections through reading to deepen and enhance their knowledge and understanding. 

As such, English is a spiral curriculum which is repeated year on year, developing and building on prior learning. At Leesland, it is divided into a series of learning journeys, whereby a variety of contrasting texts are chosen to allow the children to appreciate and create pieces of writing which can intertwine and accompany each other well. These ‘hybrid’ writing opportunities have proved successful in inspiring the children’s enthusiasm for writing. Text drivers and stimuli provide an up-to-date and robust basis for the children to write creatively.

A typical learning journey will involve:

• Providing children with a ‘hook’ to stimulate and generate excitement and interest in a new, text or stimulus (e.g images, props, trips, photographs, video clips, problems and scenarios).
• Immersion into rich texts – fiction, non-fiction etc - to generate a deeper understanding.
• Developing spoken language through discussion, drama and oral rehearsal.
• Making links to cross-curricular topics, personal experiences, news, current affairs, themes, and background knowledge.
• Use of rich texts as models for pupils’ own written work with good examples.
• Opportunities to practise and play with grammar, refining ideas and manipulating language, generating success criteria together as a class and independently.
• Application of skills learnt and the transfer of acquired knowledge into a final outcome with greater independence and fluency.
• Providing children with high-quality, timely and meaningful feedback to address misconceptions and extend understanding is crucial to the impact and securing of skills in writing.

PP, EAL, SEND and lower attaining children are given a deep exposure to the text and subject matter.  They may for example, work with smaller sections of text, have fewer items to identify or sort, receive support from staff or mixed ability peers, but the initial text or stimulus is the same for the whole class. The writing or outcome expected for this group of children should be appropriate for their expected level or ability.

Higher attaining children are encouraged to think more deeply, analysing and discussing the features of language, grammar, inference, themes etc. at a more advanced level, encouraged and questioned by the teacher to do so.  Outcomes for greater depth may include additional elements: characterisation through dialogue or a change in formality within a piece of writing. Children will be expected to write and edit with greater independence, whether it be correcting spellings or improving a section of text for cohesion or refining their character or authorial voice.

The biggest desire is that children will find reading, writing and spelling engaging, motivational, personal and empowering.

IMPACT

At Leesland, our aim is for all children to be able to:

• Take ownership of their own learning across the English curriculum (through English books and completed final pieces).
• Appreciate and be inspired by a range of authors and genres.
• Write for a range of purposes and audiences, adding character, language for effect and authorial voice.
• Evaluate their own and others’ work with reference to inspiration, intent and impact.

English progression is documented to show when a new objective should be introduced and each skill is mapped to prior/connecting objectives from an earlier key stage.  Links to KS1 objectives have been made to enable year 3 teachers to clearly see what the children should already be able to do. Within LSK2, Year 3 should introduce each new skill which can then be practiced and embedded in year 4.  Similarly, year 5 should continue to embed previously taught skills, introduce new learning, which can then be revised throughout year 6 in preparation for SATs.

Impact should be visible through careful planning of learning journeys, book monitoring, pupil conferencing and final outcomes to demonstrate the children’s depth of understanding.

What pupils say about English

'In English we get to use our creativity.'

'When we wrote our quest stories we were able to design our own stories with different challenges for the main characters - it was fun!'

'I like planning my writing out in English and then using all of my skills.'

'We presented our writing of a newspaper report using the chromebooks, which made them look fantastic.'

Our learning journeys help us with our writing because we can look back in our books and this helps us.'

'We love reading and our library.'

Year group curriculum maps

Please take a look at the fantastic texts your child will be studying this year. We aim to have a range of rich texts that children will enjoy. 

If you would like to read any with your child, even before we get to them in school, please do, or speak with your child's class teacher who will be more than happy to recommend something similar.