English at St Benedict’s
Intent
At St Benedict’s RC Primary School we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. We aim to deliver an inspiring and engaging English curriculum through high quality teaching and exciting lessons. We believe that a secure basis in literacy 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.
Writing is a crucial part of our curriculum at St Benedict’s. By the end of Year Six we intend our children to have developed a love of writing and to be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively through the written word. We also intend to create writers who can re-read, edit and improve their own writing, and enable pupils to be able to confidently use the essential skills of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Enjoyment of writing is fostered through the use of drama, story and the use of ICT. We ensure that all children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with many opportunities to develop
and apply their writing skills across all areas of the curriculum.
At St Benedict’s, we aim to develop a love of Reading in all our children. This is supported by the teaching of phonics from nursery to the end of KS1, along with the teaching of other reading skills such as inference and retrieval for developing comprehension of the text. Children will also have a growing understanding of text meaning, which will be further developed during Key Stage 2.
We intend that children will leave St Benedict’s as competent readers, who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a wide range of high-quality texts across the genres, participate in discussions about books and have an established love of reading for life.
We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning. Children at St Benedict’s are taught to express themselves clearly to others and participate in discussions with confidence and clarity in a range of different contexts.
Implementation
In order to help us to develop confident, enthusiastic writers who can express themselves in a variety of different styles and across a variety of contexts, our teaching of writing is often cross circular and linked to our class topics. This provides our children with regular opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences. Writing tasks are specific and meaningful, and often meet a purpose to engage children and to illustrate how their writing skills can be applied to real life contexts. Children have opportunities to develop writing skills across the curriculum, in a range of genres and contexts.
In EYFS and KS1 children have daily phonics sessions using ‘Monster Phonics’ to develop skills like blending and segmenting in preparation for early reading and writing. Monster Phonics covers all of the EYFS literacy framework and KS1 spelling curriculum. A stimulating learning environment provides children with opportunities to develop their communication, language and literacy skills on a daily basis with a focus on child-initiated activities. Children enjoy daily ‘story time’ so they become familiar with stories and authors and begin to develop a love of reading.
In English lessons, KS1 and KS2 use CUSP English as a basis for studying high quality fiction texts. From this, children have the opportunity to explore and compose a variety of different text types including, fiction, non-fiction and poetry. We use CUSP Spelling as our approach to Spelling in KS2. This approach teaches
children in a ‘little but often’ way allowing children to consistently review and consolidate their learning whilst developing strategies to spell words correctly. We believe that helping children how to use and apply spelling patterns is the key to helping them become successful spellers. Our bespoke curriculum allows writing skills to be developed across the curriculum and children are given lots of opportunities for cross-curricular writing.
In EYFS & KS1, children take part in regular guided reading sessions to promote reading fluency. Children are grouped for guided reading, ensuring that they are reading 90% of words fluently. Books are then sent home so children can further consolidate skills learnt in phonics with parents. As a school, we recognise the value of reading aloud to children to model appropriate use of story language and reading with expression. We want to enthuse them with a love of books and inspire them as writers.
Impact
Pupils will make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year Six they will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education.
By the time children leave St Benedict’s, they are competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry, and participate in discussions about books, including evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader. They can also read books to enhance their knowledge and understanding of all subjects on the curriculum, and communicate their research to a wider audience.
In a safe and encouraging environment, children develop into confident communicators who illuminate the goodness in each other by listening, speaking with kindness and empathy and explaining with clarity and confidence. Children recognise that speaking and listening can lie at the heart of conveying character, and that through speaking and listening effectively, misunderstandings can be addressed and relationships enhanced.
