Intent:
At West Cornforth Primary School, our English curriculum is designed to develop children’s love of reading, writing and communication, in order to prepare our learners for life as successful and socially responsible citizens. It is constantly evaluated and updated, to ensure that world events and British values are an inherent and a relevant part of the work which we do.
We nurture a culture where the children take pride in writing at an increasingly high standard. They can write clearly, imaginatively and with accuracy, adapting the style of their writing depending upon context. The children develop a love of writing where, regardless of ability, they can communicate thoughts, ideas and feelings. English books are regularly shared with parents, governors, visitors and peers to celebrate and encourage success.
Reading is crucial to the English curriculum at West Cornforth Primary School. We aim to ensure that the children are widely read and study a range of literature, including texts from other cultures and lesser known authors. The range of novels is constantly monitored and updated with input from the children as to preferred interest and style of text. The reading curriculum is enhanced with author visits and additional visits where possible. For example, some children were taken to Waterstones to enhance their love or reading.
Implementation:
Our English curriculum is implemented through the use of rich texts and engaging our pupils with a cross-curricular approach. We aim to choose inspiring contexts which engage children with the wider world, and inspire them to read and write. This includes incorporating many of the foundation subjects. Our current area for development is to ensure the children are given opportunities to share and celebrate their writing.
In Early Years, our children are actively engaged in beginning to read and write. This is achieved across many stimulating environments such as the outdoors and well-planned role play. They have access to a wide range of reading and writing materials to ignite their interest. They are helped to use books and stories to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places/ the environment, technology and the world around them. This is achieved through a mix of play and formal lessons.
We follow the Little Wandle phonics scheme which is a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the Department for Education. This scheme is based on the original Letters and Sounds document. Children are assessed and placed at the right part of the programme for their development. Phonics lessons take place on a daily basis in EYFS and KS1 and intervention sessions take place where needed in KS2. Children may be grouped by ability to ensure that they are accessing learning at the right level for them. The daily phonics session where children learn to recognise and blend sounds, is supplemented by a daily small group reading session where this work is consolidated. Children read books which are matched exactly to the stage of their phonic understanding. Children’s progress is carefully monitored throughout each phonics session and children complete an assessment task at the end of each half term.
In Key Stage 2 our English lessons are explicitly taught and all lessons cover a range of reading and writing.
Writing at West Cornforth Primary School is planned such that all children, from Reception to Year 6, are provided with as many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. We use Literacy Tree as one of the sources of our texts in order that we can ensure texts are current and inspiring children to learn about the world. Examples of texts which we are currently using, include Hidden Figures, in which children learn about the achievements and determination of four iconic women at key moments in American and world history. Another class have been studying the poetry of Joseph Coelho which depict his life growing up with his single mother in a London tower block.
Children work hard to use the school’s agreed cursive handwriting style and their work is marked daily with afternoon teaching opportunity to make any necessary improvements, or address any misconceptions.
Teacher modelling is an integral part of our English curriculum and children have daily opportunities to participate in this – their contributions are valued, and reference materials, such as a working wall, specific technology (e.g. Clicker7) are in place in all working areas.
Reading is monitored through the Accelerated Reader programme. This means that we have a constant monitoring system in place. The library is well maintained and children have daily, supervised access.
Children take reading books home daily and are heard reading regularly in school. Reading records are overseen weekly, with children rewarded for their efforts. Any children who aren’t making expected progress, are identified and additional support is put in place immediately. Examples of this support may be additional adult support, technology such as the Lexia programme. Children also use myON very enthusiastically; having used this so successfully during home learning we have continued to use it in the classroom.
Impact:
Assessment criteria has been developed in line with National Curriculum.
We regularly attend standards’ meetings in the local authority to ensure that we discuss standards wider than our school community.
In our school, we carry out regular and consistent learning walks and book monitoring to measure the impact and assess the implementation of our curriculum. In Key Stage 2, this information is used in order to inform our setting arrangements. This means that the children can work in groups which suit their academic and social attainment.
Our aim is to achieve a Good Level of Development in EYFS in line with national standards, and be at or above the national standard in the Phonics Screening in Year 1, KS1 National Tests and KS2 National Tests. We aim to address any significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils. The number of children achieving greater depth within each year group will be at least inline with national averages. We also ensure that parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support learning at home.
Our intention is that every child in our school is involved in their learning journey, with a love of writing and reading which will last forever and impact positively on their lives.
A Reading Spine of Quality Texts
Our English curriculum is implemented through the use of rich texts and engaging our pupils with a cross-curricular approach. We aim to choose inspiring contexts which engage children with the wider world, and inspire them to read and write. This includes incorporating many of the foundation subjects. These texts may be read to the children, read together, or read independently. Copies of the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Reading Spines can be found here:
Key Stage 1 and 2 Reading Spine at West Cornforth Primary School
Progression in English
As a school we follow the English National Curriculum:
Primary National Curriculum – English
If you have any questions about English or phonics at our school, then please contact our English coordinator, Mrs. Brown, for any further advice or support.
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