Our English curriculum consists of the three pillars: reading, writing and spoken word.
Reading
At Longnor CE Primary School, we explore the adventures through pages each and every day. We share books together, have reading challenges and develop our fluency through an embedded and sequential curriculum. Promoting a love of reading at an early age is fundamental for progress across the wider curriculum.
“Reading is fundamental to education. Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. Through these, they develop communication skills for education and for working with others: in school, in training and at work. Pupils who find it difficult to learn to read are likely to struggle across the curriculum, since English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching.”
The reading framework: Teaching the foundations of literacy. January 2022
We recognise the significance of developing vocabulary and fluency through talk about words. Parents are encouraged to listen to children read out loud and talk about new and challenging words. Adventurous vocabulary is explored together and displayed in classes.
Phonics
At Longnor CE Primary School, we use Twinkl phonics to teach our children the core skills of segmenting and blending and to start them on their ‘reading journey’.
Twinkl phonics sequentially teaches methods to teach and learn letter sounds and blend them together to read and write words. As part of this, children have daily phonics sessions where they participate in speaking, listening and spelling activities that are matched to their developing needs. The teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure children are stretched and challenged and to identify children who may need additional support. Children work through the different phases, learning and developing their phonics sounds and knowledge. Children can then focus on developing their fluency and comprehension skills throughout the school.
Along with a choice book to promote the love of reading and allowing the children to read a wide range of text types, our children on their phonic journey will come home with a book linked to their phonic stage of learning.
All pupils have a home-reading record which they take home long with their reading books. This includes more information about reading at home. Parents and carers are asked to add comments to the home-reading records to indicate how much pupils have read. Other information such as videos of their child correctly pronouncing pure sounds and YouTube clips are provided for parents use:
How to say the sounds – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q
Writing
At Longnor CE Primary School, we recognise the range of skills that are required in order to write. Using Jane Considine – The Write Stuff, we teach explicit spelling, punctuation and grammar skills through modelling, dictation and composition of pieces across the curriculum. Writing for purpose is essential and using a range of inspiring books excites and interests our writers.
Our spiral curriculum is designed to allow opportunities to revisit sentence types, grammar and spelling. Please see examples of our progression maps:
Daily spelling lessons teach phonics and spelling rules that children can apply in their reading and spelling. Here is an example of how our spelling rules are mapped through the school and allow for revisiting of previously learnt spellings:
Spoken word – Oracy
Following research analysis by Cambridge University and School 21, along with cluster schools, resources and activities have been progressively designed to structure the teaching of oracy through the school. Opportunities for Oracy are planned for across the curriculum. Children build resilience through debates and listening to the views of others. Here are some examples of our Oracy resources:
Overview of English Curriculum
Please see this PowerPoint for an overview of the English Curriculum at Longnor CE Primary School:
English Overview for subject leaders