English

At Thorncombe St Mary’s, our vision: ‘Living, Learning and Growing Together’ charges us to ensure that we secure for each child a sense of physical and mental wellbeing, as the foundations for effective, life-long learning and to enable each child to both benefit from, and contribute to, a better world.

Living: English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. 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. Through their reading and listening, others can then communicate back to them.

Learning: We promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We enable pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know.

Growing Together: All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society. Pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. By the end of Key Stage Two, children will leave our school prepared for the next step in their English education.

We aim for every child to:

• 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 grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language

• appreciate our rich and varied literacy heritage

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

• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas

• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

We teach writing through genre and link this to a high quality text. This high quality text is used within some of our reading sessions each week which further supports the children’s skills. Furthermore, we find ways to connect our writing and reading  to other areas of the curriculum so that the children are exposed to tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary on more than one occasion, as well as enabling them to make connections across their learning.

Who teaches English?

English is taught by each class teacher and supported by every member within our school team.

Which resources are used to ensure progression of knowledge, skills and attitudes?

As a school, we followed an intertwined approach to English where reading and writing links are made within lessons, as well as across the rest of the school curriculum. Our school curriculum maps out the genres to teach each term as well as a series of recommended high quality texts and books to explore during each genre. The English curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills as the year progresses and as children move to higher year groups during their time at school.

In the EYFS stage, children follow the Read, Write, Inc scheme of work and take part in daily ‘Get Writing’ sessions that link closely to the sounds and books that they have been learning. The children also have writing opportunities in both their indoor and outdoor learning environments. Teachers create exciting writing opportunities for children to take part in which allows them to embed the skills they have been taught.

Within Year 1 and Year 2, the curriculum follows a 2 year rolling programme. When the children reach KS2, the curriculum follows a 4 year rolling programme where some key genres are explored more frequently. Across all year groups, children explore a fiction, non-fiction and poetry unit each half term and are given an independent writing opportunity.

In addition to our English lessons, Key Stage 2 children take part in a weekly whole class reading session where a key text is explored and an area of reading comprehension is supported. This exposes children to a wide range of high quality texts that are fiction, non-fiction, poetry, songs and extracts from films.

Across the school, the class teacher reads a wide range of stories from a wide range of contexts throughout the school year four times a week for at least 20 minutes and the children also take part in a ‘Book Club’ once a week.

How is English timetabled?

In each class, English is taught from 10.45-12. In EYFS, children experience a discrete English opportunity as well as it forming part of continuous provision. Interventions (such as pre-teaching and fast track phonics) are delivered throughout the week. 

Through careful assessment, planning and preparation, we aim to ensure that children are given opportunities for:

• being exposed to a wide range of stories from a wide range of contexts

• reading for pleasure and share recommendations with others

• gaining the strategies to build their vocabulary

• writing in a range of styles for different purposes and audiences

• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates

How are children with additional needs supported in English?

Our smaller than average class sizes allow teachers to monitor closely the progress and attainment of each individual child. Children who are identified as having additional needs or as disadvantaged receive a wealth of support. This consists, but is not limited to, an adapted input from their teacher or teaching assistant, a guided session within a small group, adapted challenges to meet their individual needs and targeted interventions to enable them to make accelerated progress and keep up with their peers.

Despite our mixed year groups, English is taught at an age appropriate level so that each child is gaining relevant literary devices that are pitched at their stage of learning. Children at our school receive a very personalised approach to teaching and benefit from working closely with the adults in their class. 

When a child is struggling with a concept, we proactively plan opportunities to secure this area of learning. This may be done by additional teacher support, adapted challenges or an intervention. For those who may need additional exposure to literary devices or grammatical concepts, we offer pre-teaching opportunities where they are introduced to these ahead of the lesson. During the lesson, they can then use this recent prior knowledge to support them. We also plan fast track phonics for children who need specific support following our Read, Write, Inc phonics scheme. This is a targeted intervention that teaches gaps in a child’s individual learning and it takes place every day. As a school, we also ensure that MyPlan targets are incorporated into English teaching and learning (e.g. the use of visual prompts, additional support, access to key resources or specialist equipment).

How inclusive is English provision in the school?

The needs of all children are met within the teaching of English. Our intertwined reading and writing curriculum... Following a teaching input, children .... 

Following an approach like this means that children can be included in the same learning. In English, ALL children can achieve, through the following:

• ensuring that there is high quality, adapted teaching and assessment of individual need

• using a variety of teaching and learning styles

• presenting information in a variety of forms – verbal explanations, models, written explanations, guided tasks and shared tasks – to ensure accessibility

• using a mix of whole class, small group, paired and individual work to allow the support and development of individuals’ needs

• entitling all pupils to equal access to a full learning entitlement, whatever their starting point

• Setting suitable learning challenges

For children who are identified as gifted and talented, we offer mastery writing workshop sessions across each academic year where a group of children from each of our 7 Trust schools take part. This provides a fantastic opportunity to meet new faces, as well as offering them content that further enhances their English journey during their time at Thorncombe St Mary’s.

How are other subjects, technologies, visits, or visitors used to enhance English learning?

Across the school, our History and Geography units often form a general theme for each half term. From this, we closely match our English work to support the subject knowledge and vocabulary that the children are learning about. English is often taught through areas of our curriculum work (where possible). Our whole school  curriculum provides planned opportunities to make links (e.g. participating in a debate during PSHCE, reading and extracting information from key parables in RE, etc). Our computing resources are used to enhance learning in English through digital literacy, interactive activities (Spelling Shed, Lexia and Accelerated Reader) and teacher use of on-screen resources and videos. We also plan opportunities to link ENglish learning into our curriculum visits such as visiting the library, taking part in author visits, or using an experience as a hook for writing.

How is English progression monitored?

Teaching and learning of English is monitored in a similar way to other subjects: lesson observations, work security and pupil conferencing. Independent writing assessments are carried out on a half term basis which assess progress and gaps to address and we work collaboratively with our other Trust schools to moderate this. We use these assessments to track progress which is then monitored by the subject leader and Head of School. Where necessary, these leaders raise questions, challenge and offer support according to this progress. Termly progress meetings for all areas of the curriculum take place with the teacher and Head of School and information from data, pupil conferencing and work scrutiny form part of this meeting to ensure that our children receive quality first teaching that can be accessed by all learners. 

How is English progression assessed?

Children on the Read, Write, Inc phonics scheme are assessed each half term and placed into phonics groups based on their stage of learning. Those who need additional support receive daily fast track tutoring on a 1:1 basis. Writing is assessed using teacher judgement as well as a gaps analysis sheet for independent writing pieces which are cross moderated with the other schools in our Trust. Reading is assessed using teacher judgement and through Accelerated Reader which tracks a child’s level of comprehension. Children also used an online system called Lexia which offers an individualised programme of support for children to improve their spelling and reading. Spelling is assessed through Spelling Shed and informal spelling activities.

Our smaller than average class sizes allow us to have a very personalised advantage of assessing children’s progress closely. Teachers are able to pinpoint particular areas that need further support and plan opportunities for this. This may be for a whole class, group or individuals. The termly summative assessments provide teachers and leaders with an overview of how the children are progressing in their learning. These assessments are analysed and trends across a cohort are picked up early to either celebrate or address. We work collaboratively as a team to ensure we support one another to move children’s learning forwards and provide a rigorous approach to supporting children to keep up with their peers when they show early signs of needing additional support.