English
The Intent of our English Curriculum
At Quernmore CE Primary School, we believe that a quality Literacy curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop their all-important comprehension skills. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. 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.
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. This secure basis in literary 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.
The Implemenation of our English Curriculum
These aims are embedded across our literacy lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum and framework, that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We follow the Talk for Writing literacy framework and use a variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children. Teachers also ensure that cross curricular links with concurrent topic work are woven into the programme of study.
The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
● develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
● acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
● appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
● write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
● use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
● are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
We teach phonics through the Optima Reading programme and believe our reading is going from strength to strength with children looking forward to reading. Optima Reading is a research-based programme that has been developed through a series of studies over the last 20 years and has been shown in multiple evaluations to have a huge impact in raising students’ attainments. We have a reading policy which can be found on our school website.
At Quernmore Primary School we have implemented the Talk for Writing approach to teaching Literacy. Below are more details about what this approach entails and why we adopted it.
Talk for Writing is powerful because it enables children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally before reading and analysing it and then writing their own version. It builds on three stages of teaching:
1) Imitation - the children learn a text and the language they need
2) Innovation - the children adapt the model text with ideas of their own
3) Invention - the children create their own text using the language and skills that the model taught them.
At Quernmore CE Primary School, we identify children who need support and provide intervention in the most effective and efficient way that we can. We run intervention reading groups and are fortunate to have parents who come in regularly to hear children read. Most children on the SEND register have reading and comprehension as one of their targets. Teachers plan and teach English lessons which are differentiated to the particular needs of each child. We help each child maximise their potential by providing help and support where necessary whilst striving to make children independent workers once we have helped to equip them with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need.
We run parent information sessions on phonics and reading for the early years, reading and SATs for Year 2 parents and a SATs meeting for Year 6 parents so that they understand age-related expectations. These sessions are always very well attended by parents and carers who often comment about how helpful the sessions have been for them.
Marking is rigorous in English and across the curriculum, with spelling corrections to help children correct and consolidate their work. English book scrutinies are carried out to check all teachers are following our marking policy rigorously.
We love to celebrate success of all learners and strive to help all children achieve their goals. Reading is celebrated in classrooms and around school at Quernmore CE Primary School, where our bright and colourful displays celebrate children’s writing, their favourite books. In addition, throughout the school year our literacy curriculum is enhanced through World Book Day, share a book, and a range of trips and visits which enrich and complement children’s learning. Children are encouraged to read regularly at home and have reading buddies in school.
The Impact of our English Curriculum
The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferable skills. With the implementation of the writing journey being well established and taught thoroughly in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and by the time they are in upper Key Stage 2, most genres of writing are familiar to them and the teaching can focus on creativity, writer’s craft, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.
Termly assessment is showing that most children at Quernmore CE Primary School are achieving in Literacy at age-related expectations. Each year we have children achieving at a secure or exceeding level in reading and writing at the end of KS2 and are working hard to emulate that at the end of KS1. We hope that all the new literacy initiatives outlined above will help to boost children’s learning and progress.
As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific grammar, punctuation and grammar objectives.
We hope that as children move on from Quernmore CE Primary School to further their education and learning, that their creativity, passion for English and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.