English Curriculum

“A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them.” Primary National Curriculum 2014

Our Vision

The English curriculum at Rimrose Hope CE Primary School strives to achieve this for all of our children, it aims to ensure that they leave school fluent in the fundamentals of reading, writing, speaking and listening. We encourage all of our children to see that all strands of the English curriculum are an essential part of their everyday life now and in the future.

Our Curriculum

Reading, writing and oracy underpin all of the key aspects of our curriculum offer and it is essential therefore that all children can read and write skilfully and thoughtfully as early as possible. Language provides our children with the tools for thinking and reasoning and enables them, over time, to become critical thinkers who can view all aspects of the curriculum in a reflective, analytical and evaluative way. Our English curriculum empowers children through the acquisition of a shared understanding of the knowledge of events, skills, people, values and ideas.

Our Pedagogy

Our school is rich in texts that represent the wealth and variety of children’s literature and staff are skilled in selecting the right book for different outcomes. This knowledge is carefully passed onto children so that they in turn have more ownership about developing their own reading habits. Whole-school texts bring the reading community (pupils, staff and parents) together. This is further enhanced through a holistic approach to ‘reading for pleasure’ where strategies are embedded both implicitly and explicitly. We have recently introduced our Reading Graduate programme at Rimrose Hope to develop our love of reading and to help children to access a carefully planned range of quality texts. We also acknowledge the importance reading plays in the development and acquisition of vocabulary. We are determined that we will help ensure our children are exposed to the type of texts which will provide them with the knowledge and cultural capital to overcome barriers to succeed. We have considered the rationale of Mary Myatt when developing our English Curriculum and responded to her recommendations, "If we are serious about an ambitious curriculum for all our pupils, we need to think hard about the resources we provide to make sure that they are really stretching them."

And so we need to turn to texts."

Well-chosen high-quality texts are at the heart of all English sessions to ensure children have models of writing that equip them with skills to succeed. Yearly overviews are consistently reviewed to ensure that all writing tasks are meaningful with a clear audience and purpose. Children make progress across their writing because this is meticulously managed and reviewed. Staff have developed curriculum long-term plans that illustrate soundly how writing skills can be taught in English sessions and further applied in another context. This is expertly woven through the whole curriculum through well-chosen texts and children take great pride to ensure that the standard of writing is consistent in all subjects.

All staff recognise the importance of oral rehearsal before writing and this is evidenced through planning activities across the curriculum where children are given a voice. This ensures children are directly involved in the task and can articulate; justify and explain their learning. Children are encouraged to actively question throughout the curriculum. This is facilitated through well-planned activities where staff promote pupil voice. Children enjoy participating in this way and they develop justification skills at an age-appropriate standard.

Phonics

At Rimrose Hope we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. RWI is a method of learning centred round letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in
their reading and writing. Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out. Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they
write.

When using RWI to read the children will:
* learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple
picture prompts
* learn to read words using Fred Talk
* learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent 44 sounds.
* learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk
* write simple sentences
 

Provision for children in Nursery

Laying strong foundations to ensure children are ready to start Read, Write Inc is a priority from September in Nursery until February when many children will be ready to access the Read Write Inc. programme. The Nursery children develop a 'listening ear,' we feel that  it is very important that they are able to identify sounds, discover what makes sounds and differentiate between these sounds before embarking on the Read, Write, Inc. journey.

Read, Write, Inc - Reception and Year 1

Children take part in daily Read, Write Inc sessions. Children are grouped so that their needs can be catered for. 

Year 2 -  Phonics and Spelling

By the end of Year 1 the Read, Write, Inc programme will generally have been completed and so the majority Year 2 will move onto Spelling Mastery. The scheme focuses on spelling rules and patterns and meets the requirements of the KS1 curriculum for spelling. Any children not at the standard to do this will receive intervention tailored to their requirements.

Reading

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 linguistic conventions” Primary National Curriculum 2014

We believe that it is essential for children to be given the opportunity to develop a love of reading, so we firmly place it at the core of our English curriculum at Rimrose Hope CE Primary School. It is the cornerstone of our teaching, each half term carefully chosen texts or authors are identified for all classes and consequently all reading and writing experiences stem from these books. All of our children are exposed to a wide range of high quality fiction and non-fiction texts that excite and challenge them.

Opportunities for shared reading, exploration and response to the text, development of comprehension skills and identification of language/genre features are carefully planned for. We also use the book to capture ideas for writing opportunities and explore grammar in context. We firmly believe that the right choice of text encourages children to become enthusiastic readers who enjoy reading for pleasure.

Home Reading

We feel that a child’s 'reading journey' can be enhanced through regular reading at home. Reading to and with a child every evening for at least ten minutes can make a dramatic difference to a child's achievement within school. A report from the Oxford University Press highlighted the importance of parents reading with their children. 'Children who read outside of class are 13 times more likely to read above the expected level for their age'. We use the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme to support reading at home. This scheme covers a wide range of genres and supports early readers with a series of phonetically decodable books. This scheme is supplemented with short chapter books (Reading Ladders) for developing readers and a wide range of library books for fluent readers.

Children are given a reading diary so that there is an opportunity for a conversation to take place between school and home regarding reading. If you have any concerns or questions regarding home reading, please speak to your child’s class teacher or alternative contact Miss McMinn.

Reading Expectations at Home

Guided Reading

EYFS

Children are placed in ability groups and have at least one guided reading session per week. The focus of these sessions is to improve reading fluency and comprehension skills. We use Collins Big Cat reading scheme in conjunction with Read, Write, inc.

KS1 and KS2

All children have at least two guided reading sessions per week. One session will focus on reading fluency and the other session will focus on improving children's comprehension skills. We use Project X guided and Collins Big Cat reading scheme to improve reading fluency and a range of engaging, high-quality texts that focus on developing children's comprehension skills. These sessions ensure coverage of the content domains for reading and give the opportunity to further address the speaking, listening, language and grammar content of the programmes of study.

Writing

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences

A high quality text is always at the heart of our planning. This emphasis on a text allows us to engage children and provide the setting for them to articulate their ideas and structure them in their writing. We provide opportunities for children to study and produce a wide variety of short and long pieces in response to the text. These writing opportunities include shared writing, modelled writing, supported composition, guided writing and independent writing. The long-term plan for English ensures a wide variety of genres are covered throughout the school. We ensure that the knowledge and understanding of vocabulary, punctuation and grammar is addressed and children have the opportunity to practise these skills through writing. Time is allocated for children to draft, revise and edit their work as and when required. All children in KS1 and KS2 have specific writing targets and these are displayed at the top of every piece of writing. Children refer to these targets and self assess their work at the end of every writing session against the targets they have been set. 

Example Writing Targets - 'Target Pencil'

Teachers will 'tickle pink' writing targets that have been achieved within a piece of writing. Children will self assess their own writing and underline examples of where they have achieved their targets using a blue pencil crayon. For further information please refer to the school's marking policy or contact Miss McMinn at the school office.