English Curriculum
English Curriculum
Intent
English sits at the heart of our curriculum – it is through language, story and text that children learn to form concepts, connect ideas and express themselves. Through literacy, in all its forms, children learn to both make sense of the world and shape their place within it.
At St. Patrick’s, we hold a steadfast belief in the pivotal role of language and literacy in children's holistic development. Our commitment resonates in our vibrant and innovative curriculum, nurturing their prowess in both written and oral communication, and fostering their creative spark. Immersing students in a tapestry of enriching and thought-provoking texts, our aim is to ignite a lasting love for reading and writing, continuing well beyond their time with us. These encounters are carefully designed to be enjoyable and stimulating, nurturing profound memories and unwavering self-assurance. We strive to cultivate independent learners who take the helm of their educational journey.
Our mission involves creating immersive experiences that equips our pupils to develop an extensive vocabulary, a robust understanding of grammar, and the skill to spell new words by adeptly applying spelling rules and patterns. Our belief is rooted in the understanding that adept writers refine and polish their craft over time. Thus, we empower children to autonomously identify areas for improvement. As they journey through the primary curriculum, our goal is to establish a strong foundation in English, underpinned by a clear path of progression. Our methodologies are firmly anchored in research-backed approaches, ensuring a well-rounded educational experience.
Implementation:
Writing
From Year One, each English lesson begins with a SPAG recap to ensure all areas of age-specific grammar and punctuation can be recognised and applied correctly.
Students then engage with a Vocabulary Ninja word of the day.
These are taken from a tier-two vocabulary list and looks at the meaning, potential prefixes/suffixes, the word class, antonyms and synonyms and how the word can be used in a sentence. Students then write a sentence of their own to include the word and share this with their peers. The word is displayed in class and students are encouraged to use it in their own writing where appropriate. This encourages discussion and the development of tier-two vocabulary.
English is taught through a love of reading and each genre of writing is inspired by a planned text. This is used in both guided reading and writing lessons, before being offered to students to read for pleasure.
English lessons are structured as a two-week cycle and follows as such:
- Hook – Each cycle begins with a hook, which immerses the students in the genre and stimulates vital discussion, passion or excitement. This may be watching a clip from a film, carrying out a physical activity or taking a small trip. Our students gain a great deal of insight into the topic from these sessions. During discussions and interactions, students are encouraged to write down any vocabulary they feel they might want to include in their writing later in the cycle (KS1 classes may generate a shared word bank on a working wall.)
- Introduction of text – Students are shown a WAGOLL (What a Good One Looks Like) with success criteria and will look in depth at the features and structure of the writing. From this, they are given the opportunity to magpie ideas and phrases. This stage is vital in developing a full understanding of the genre.
- Reading Comprehension – This will feature either the original WAGOLL or a closely-linked text. The text is shared with the class (where necessary, some pupils may be given the opportunity to pre-read this before the lesson to support their fluency and understanding.) Students then read with a partner and independently. They are then given a set of questions based on the text, which develops the skills of: predicting, summarising, sequencing, understanding vocabulary, inference, explanation and retrieval. Students are supported - where necessary - to decode. This step supports students in building fluency as a reader, with the understanding that, fluency is not just ‘reading quickly’ it is showing a deep understanding of what is being read, including intonation and punctuation. Once again, any inspirational words or phrases can be magpied.
- Grammar and Punctuation – Genre-specific grammar, punctuation or sentence structure is studied in detail. New skills are introduced and sufficient time is given to embed the new skills so that they can be applied in independent writing.
- Writing – At this stage, students may carry out a ‘short write,’ where they apply new skills. Alternatively, time is taken to plan for an extended write. It is here, that students will hone in on two central things: who are they writing for? (The audience) and why are they writing? (The purpose). With these at the centre, they plan the structure, format, vocabulary etc. for their extended write.
Students then write their first draft. Following peer discussions and verbal in-the-moment feedback from the teacher, they will also self-edit and improve.
Time is given to reflect on their own writing, taking the audience and purpose, they find an example of where they have achieved what they set out to do and explain why it is successful.
In addition to the cycle, students are taught age-specific spellings. This is done through our subscription with Spelling Shed.
Through this teaching, they look at the etymology and morphology of words. They learn definitions and practice using spelling words correctly. Whilst they are tested each week, there is more of a focus on applying the words correctly in their independent writing going forward.
Regular handwriting instruction spans Reception to Year 6. Early Years starts with mark making, patterns, and proper posture and pencil grip. Key Stage 1 refines fine and gross motor skills for legibility. Our method, involving teacher modelling and direct instruction, culminates in Year 6 students confidently using legible joined handwriting upon completion of Key Stage 2.
The two-week writing cycles are flexible. Some genres may take less time than others, some may need more time to focus on one particular step. This is informed through daily formative assessment.
Reading
First and foremost, we want all children at St Patrick’s to develop a life-long love of reading. As a result, we approach the teaching of reading from all angles, so as to miss no opportunity to spark a child’s interest.
Held daily from Year 2 upwards, daily Guided Reading lessons focus on the skills of comprehension, through unpicking vocabulary and moving on to unlocking the meaning of whole texts and critical appreciation. Within these sessions, we use the VIPERS reading prompts (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve, Sequence (KS1) or Summarise (KS2). This is used as a consistent approach to teaching children the reading skills which are necessary to understand a range of texts. Pupils are given the opportunity to hear the text read initially as they follow along, then practice reading with a partner before participating in choral reading. This repeated exposure enable all pupils to build fluency and ensures no child is left behind.
Reading For Pleasure
All staff, from Nursery to Year 6, are enthusiastic about reading and enjoy daily read-aloud sessions with the children covering a range of genres: fiction, non-fiction, stories, reports, diaries and poems. Each year group has access to a class library containing challenging and engaging texts for teachers to read to their classes, exposing children to a broad range of language and classic stories.
We have a home-school reading system (from Reception to Year 6), with the expectation that children read a book at the appropriate level for them for at least ten minutes each day. In Reception and Key Stage 1, children follow a phonetically-matched reading scheme, giving them a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of blending words, building fluency and recognising common exception words. Moving up into Key Stage 2, children choose from age-appropriate texts.
We have a fantastic library, ‘Pat’s Parnassus’, that children can visit weekly. The library is also open once a week on a lunch time and is ran by our Reading Ambassadors who have been trained to organise the library, recommend books and read to younger children.
Each year, we launch our Reading Passports, challenging the children to see where reading can take them. They encourage children to read a wide range of texts. The texts on the passports challenge the children to read ambitious books they might not usually have encountered. These texts are chosen from recommended book lists and cover all protected characteristics and link to our Trust values (Please find link below to access the passports for your child’s year group.)
We pride ourselves in being a Reading School and celebrate reading at every opportunity. We have whole school displays that the children themselves contribute to, book link posters, MANY author visits, social media reading challenges, book fayres and, of course, World Book Day – one of the highlights of the year!
Phonics
Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write by developing their phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate different sounds used in the English language. Children learn the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. At St Patrick’s, we place a strong emphasis on the teaching of phonics in the early years of reading and writing in order to give all children a solid foundation for learning. Because not all words in the English language comply with the rules of phonics, we also teach common exception words by repetition and retrieval.
The Teaching of Phonics
Phonics lessons at St Patrick’s are taught daily from Nursery up to the end of Year 1. The sessions are short, engaging and memorable with an emphasis placed on revising a previously learned letter-sound correspondence, learning a new one, practicing this, applying it to sentence level work and building fluency through paired reading of phonetically matched books.
The teaching of phonics begins in Nursery and Reception using the ‘Read, Write Inc.’ scheme. Letter sounds in nursery are introduced at the rate of one per week. There are opportunities for pupils to practise these through continuous provision. In Reception, sounds are introduced at a rate of one a day throughout the term with the expectation that all pupils will recognise sounds from phases 2-4 and use them to segment and blend to read and write words. In Year 1, children consolidate their learning of phases 2-4 and move on to phase 5, learning alternative spellings of the previously learned sounds and refining their knowledge to become more fluent readers and more accurate spellers.
The Phonics Screening Check
During the summer term in Year 1, children nationwide are tested on their phonic knowledge. This test helps us to identify children who have gaps in their phonic knowledge and may need further support in Year 2. The test is kept very low-key and we endeavour to make it completely pressure-free for the children. Essentially, the children are asked to read 40 words from a list, using their phonics to ‘sound out’ the word and then blend it if they need to. Parents are informed as to whether their child has achieved the national expectation within the child’s end-of-year report.
Practising Phonics at Home
The best phonics resource available is a book. Alongside the books your child brings home, seek out books that you and your child enjoy reading. Discuss words that present a challenge, breaking them down into their component sounds in order to read them if necessary. Make sure you set aside quiet time for reading and enjoying books together.
In addition to books, we will send links via MYCAS to virtual phonics practice activities that you can access at home along with access to decodable ebooks. Your child will sometimes bring home packs of words that can be decoded using their phonic knowledge. Practise reading and spelling these words. Play fun games with them such as thinking of words that rhyme, writing them on post-its or in sand. Common exception words will be sent alongside phonetically decodable words each week for spellings. Try to practise these on-sight. Point them out in the environment, see if your child can spot them in their reading books.
Join us on our scheduled Reading Coffee Mornings. These are a great way to meet other parents, have a look at some age-appropriate books for your child, share ideas for encouraging your child to read and listen to our Reading Lead talk about how reading is taught within school. Check our termly Reading Newsletter for information on local book events, research and ideas for reading at home.
Please see the link below for more information on our phonics programme.
Impact
The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning, transferrable skills and above all, enjoyment.
With the implementation of the writing journey being well established and taught thoroughly in both Key Stages, children are becoming more confident writers and as they reach Key Stage 2, a range of 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.
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 and punctuation.
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, we have achieved consistently high Phonics Screening results and our younger pupils are becoming more confident, fluent readers, giving them the best possible start to their journey through our school.
We firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the results of the statutory assessments. We give all children the opportunity to enter the magical worlds that books open up to them. We promote reading for pleasure as part of our reading curriculum. Children are encouraged to develop their own love of genres and authors and to review their books objectively. This enhances a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles.
When children leave St Patrick’s, they consider themselves to be skilled readers and writers, confident in their ability to express themselves through language.
Reading Passports
English progression documents
English curriculum overviews
Spelling Shed