Intent

In our MAT, with the children, we develop an excitement for English through building a knowledge and skills based toolkit which, together, we personalise through creative application. The expectations for every year group are underpinned using the National Curriculum for each of the elements of English. We use our Review, Teach, Practise and Apply process to establish the next steps for progress in each child’s learning journey. We invest time and prioritise English learning in order that it may be applied to enhance every other aspect of the curriculum and in daily life.

Implementation 

We use the National Curriculum and our self-developed ‘Pilgrim Progress’ assessment procedures provide support for staff and pupils to monitor their progress against the gaining of key skills and knowledge. We have a well-designed framework, that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We use a wide 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 foundation stones to a successful education lie in the acquisition of these basic skills and knowledge.

Interventions and adapted lessons for English are in place for individual children with SEND; all other children receive regular support, adapted work or resources as part of their English lessons with further support for individuals or small groups where there is a need identified. Task types are varied and adapted to suit different pupils and their learning preferences. For those children with additional, identified needs or a barrier to learning we adapt our teaching in many different ways, including:

• visual aids / illustrations / symbols (Talk4Writing)
• story maps and actions
• word banks/sentence stems 
• pre-teaching of new vocabulary
• generating class models of writing
• live modelled writing (talking out loud the writing process)
• read or scribe where needed
• use of ICT and touch typing

Impact

We aim that by the end of KS2 all of our children have made considerable progress from their starting points in EYFS.  With the implementation of the writing journey (including mastering of the Phonic code) being well established and taught thoroughly in both Key Stages, our children are becoming more confident writers.  By the time they are in Upper Key Stage 2, all genres of writing are familiar to them and teaching can focus on creativity, writer’s craft, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.

Our children also become more confident, fluent readers and they realise the importance of reading for pleasure along with reading for information and knowledge. 

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, progression and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific grammar, punctuation and grammar objectives.  We hope that as children move on from us 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.

 

Phonics

At St Mark's, we have chosen to use the Bug Club Phonics programme to help your child learn to read. This programme follows an approach of synthesising phonemes associated with graphemes a child sees; or put another way, learning to read by blending sounds associated with the letters a child sees. the programme is the product of extensive research on the best way to teach children how to read. Its interactive resources continue to form engaging daily phonic sessions.

 

editable letter to parents.pdf

 

unit 5 parent presentation ppt.pdf

 

unit 5 parent presentation handout 1 pseudo words.pdf

 

unit 5 parent presentation handout 2 glossary.pdf

 

unit 5 parent presentation handout 3.pdf

 

 

unit 5 handout 4 useful links.pdf