English Curriculum Overview – Coming soon!
Writing Curriculum Statement
INTENT
Writing is a crucial part of our curriculum. By the end of Year 6 we intend our children to have developed a love of writing and to be able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly and creatively through written word. We will create writers who can re-read, edit and improve their own writing, and be able to confidently use the essential skills of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Children will gain confidence and pleasure as a reader and writer. Our practice is grounded in the process of shared writing with a systematic focus on securing the basics of handwriting, phonics, spelling and grammar in relation to writing skills in the text type being taught. It is also founded on the principle that children should read and be read to often, both at school and at home.
At St Gregory’s, we set high expectations for all our children to take pride in their work and allow their imaginations to flourish.
IMPLEMENTATION
At St Gregory’s we use Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk for Writing’ approach to the teaching of writing lessons.
Our teaching sequence includes three clear stages:
Stage 1: Imitation
Stage 2: Innovation
Stage 3: Independent invention
Our teaching of writing is often cross curricular and linked to class topics. This provides our children with regular opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences. Writing tasks are specific and meaningful, and often meet a purpose to engage children and to illustrate how their writing skills can be applied to real life contexts.
Writing lessons incorporate VIPERS reading skills to identify key features of genres, mood and tone. Through developing these core reading skills, our children’s understanding of language and approaches to writing in context are enhanced, allowing them to further understand the importance of both spoken and written language.
Our children are afforded the opportunity to focus upon the discrete teaching of spelling and grammar and explore how this is used across various writing genres. Children are encouraged to express themselves through their writing developing both independence and stamina as writers. Our children take great pride in their work and are challenged to ensure the highest quality of presentation in all aspects of written work across the curriculum.
IMPACT
Pupils will make good progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year 6 they will be able to write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style to a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education. By teaching our pupils to become life-long independent and motivated writers, we are providing them with the most powerful cultural capital you can have – an ability to turn your voice (your thoughts, knowledge, opinions, artistry) into powerful writing.
Reading Curriculum Statement
INTENT
At St Gregory’s School, our aim is to foster a whole school reading culture and to nurture in our community, a love of reading from a variety of genres and traditions. Our pupils will read confidently, fluently, accurately and with understanding. They will develop an interest in words and their meanings and encourage children to develop an interest in learning new vocabulary. We aim to expose our pupils to a wide range of reading material and a variety of reading experiences to enhance their cultural capital.
IMPLEMENTATION
At St Gregory’s RC Primary School we aim to foster a lifelong love of reading in our pupils. We recognise that reading is the key to unlocking knowledge, and ensuring our children are proficient readers allows them to access the whole curriculum and gives them a key life skill. Adults in our school lead by example, modelling enthusiasm for and engagement with books.
Early Reading
Phonics is our priority in teaching children how to read and is taught daily in Reception and KS1. We follow the Structured Synthetic Phonics programme ‘Floppy’s Phonics’ where the whole class are taught the same ‘reading code’ together and pupils receive additional intervention as required. The new code that children are taught will be kept in a phonics folder to be practised at home and at school. Children are routinely assessed on their ability to recognise graphemes and to blend and segment phonemes, as well as their ability to use phonemes to read captions and sentences.
For more information on our phonics scheme visit www.oxfordowl.co.uk
Reading Curriculum
At St Gregory’s we follow the National Curriculum objectives for reading. In Early Years and KS1, our guided reading is closely matched to the phonic skills of our developing readers. Where children are still learning new phonemes and practising decoding, this is the main objective of reading sessions. Texts are carefully chosen to support this. Children are exposed to fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts in a wide range of genres to develop their understanding and enjoyment of reading. Floppy’s Phonics works alongside our reading scheme from Oxford Reading Tree which runs throughout the school. In KS2, whole class reading sessions are planned, often based around a class reading book. We focus upon VIPERS skills to deliver reading comprehension teaching and to assess reading skills. In KS2 pupils have access to Reading Plus – an online, bespoke reading intervention, which tailors itself to the needs of each individual. Our staff listen to children read on a weekly basis and this forms part of an ongoing reading assessment. All children have the opportunity to visit the school library to select reading material from a wide range of up to date, good quality fiction and non-fiction texts and poetry.
Reading at Home
We ask parents and carers to hear their children read as often as possible and at least three times a week. Each child has a reading diary which provides a link between home and school and is taken home every day. Regular practice allows children to develop their reading skills and to broaden their vocabulary. Each child will bring home two reading books – In KS1, one will be matched to the phonic code they have been learning and one will be a ‘free’ choice from the library. In Year 2 and KS2, one book will be selected from our reading scheme and a second will be a free choice from the library.
Reading for Pleasure/Cultural Capital
Reading for pleasure is at the heart of our reading policy. We believe all children have to right to read and draw knowledge from reading material, and that books provide a gateway to greater cultural awareness, knowledge and competence across the curriculum and in everyday life. Throughout the year, events are planned to promote reading for pleasure in the school community and to enhance the cultural capital of our pupils. These events include activities linked to World Book Day, visits to the local library, author visits, reading challenges and book fairs. Our library is regularly updated and promoted within the school community.
IMPACT
When our children leave Year 6 we expect them to be fluent and avid readers. Children will read widely with a thirst for reading a range of different genres and text types, including poetry. Children will be able to express their opinion on a range of different text types and use reading to confidently access all areas of the curriculum
