English
English
Intent
At Howbridge Infant School, our English curriculum is designed to develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion and prepare our learners for life as successful, valuable and socially responsible citizens. We inspire an appreciation of and foster a habit of reading widely and often. We nurture a culture where children take pride in their writing, are learning to write clearly, imaginatively and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and to use discussion to communicate and further their learning in all areas of the curriculum.
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the EYFS and Key Stage 1 curriculum. Our carefully sequenced, broad and balanced curriculum, aims to provide our children with the opportunity to build on their experiences in order to achieve their goals. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education across the curriculum. We whole-heartedly ‘promote high standards of literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.’ (National Curriculum 2014)
Implementation
Our English curriculum provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We want all of our pupils to be proficient readers, writers, spellers and speakers, who can transfer their English skills to other curriculum subjects and who are prepared for the next steps in their education. Our English lessons develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, teaching them how to write within specific genres and which structural and language features to include to be successful. Example texts are used to start this process to enable pupils to use other similar writing as models for their own. In Key Stage 1 lessons also focus on teaching specific spelling, grammar and punctuation skills to enable our pupils to apply the skills they have been taught to their extended writing and writing across the curriculum. We teach our pupils to speak clearly, to convey their ideas fluently and confidently and to ask questions. Teachers use a wide variety of resources as appropriate to their classes, but also ensure that cross curricular links with concurrent topic work are woven into the programme of study.
For more information on how we teach reading and phonics please see the separate page on our website.
Impact
In line with national expectations children leave Howbridge Infant School as happy, confident learners who have developed a love of reading and writing with the key skills and knowledge necessary for the next stage of their learning. They have high aspirations and are confident in the art of speaking and listening, able to successfully use discussion to communicate and further their learning.
As part of the National Curriculum, progress and attainment in English is assessed at Key Stage 1 using the government SAT assessments, which are internally marked. Writing is teacher assessed and moderations across classes and schools takes place termly.
Teachers in all year groups collect regular assessment data about pupil progress and attainment in English. This data is managed internally using Sonar, a tracking system.
Monitoring of all pupils, including pupils with SEND and those identified as disadvantaged, takes place termly by the Senior Leadership Team and next steps are identified for teachers and pupils.