English Intent, Implementation and Impact at St. Michael's CE Primary School

Intent:

At St. Michael's, we want all our children to develop as confident, articulate and fluent speakers, have a love of reading and take pride and explore their ability as an author in all their written work. We believe that reading, writing and speaking and listening skills are vital to allow all children to access all areas of the curriculum plus equip them for lifelong learning.

Implementation:
Reading
Children are encouraged from entry to develop an interest in all kinds of books and the print around them. Children will have the opportunity to:

• Play pre-reading games and exercises to develop the variety of skills needed to learn the complex task of reading;
• Learn a variety of approaches to reading, including phonics, whole word recognition picture and context clues to make sense of text or use of Makaton where needed;
• Read from a foundation reading scheme and have this supplemented with a wide range of books offering a choice of genre and vocabulary at the appropriate level;
• Browse, share and enjoy books with family and friends as well as sessions with the teacher;
• Read from a range of texts and respond to the different layers of meaning in them;
• From years 1-6, all children have the opportunity to engage in whole-class reading books.

In the Foundation Stage, children are taught to read using the Read Write Inc. synthetics phonic programme. This continues into KS1 until a child’s phonetic knowledge is secure. Once secure, their reading is supplemented by Book Bag reading books which are closely matched to children's phonic's knowledge. 

We actively encourage the children to keep a daily log of their reading within a dedicated home/school reading record and have also introduced St. Michael's Reading Champions awards for those children who regularly record their home reading sessions. All award winners have their achievements celebrated via the Weduc newsfeed page. Your child will also now have two reading books: one matched to their reading ability and another they have chosen as their 'Reading for Pleasure' text. To further their passion for reading, they can choose from a range of genres including poetry, graphic novels, comics, non-fiction, newspapers, joke books and of course novels are included.

 

How to read a story to your child.

If you can find the time beforehand, read the read-aloud book to yourself first, so you can think about how you’re going to read it to your child. On the first reading:

• Make reading aloud feel like a treat. Make it a special quiet time and cuddle up so you can both see the book.

• Show curiosity about what you’re going to read: ‘This book looks interesting. It’s about an angry child. I wonder how angry he gets…’

• Read through the whole story the first time without stopping too much. Let the story weave its own magic.

• Read with enjoyment. If you’re not enjoying it, your child won’t. Read favourite stories over and over again.

On later readings:

• Let your child pause, think about and comment on the pictures.

• If you think your child did not understand something, try to explain: ‘Oh! I think what’s happening here is that…’

• Chat about the story and pictures: ‘I wonder why she did that?’; ‘Oh no, I hope she’s not going to…’; ‘I wouldn’t have done that, would you?’

• Link the stories to your own family experiences: ‘This reminds me of when …’

• Link stories to others that your child knows: ‘Ah! Do you remember the dragon in ….? Do you remember what happened to him?’

• Encourage your child to join in with the bits they know.  

• Avoid asking questions to test what your child remembers.

• Avoid telling children that reading stories is good for them.

Writing: 

As soon as children enter Nursery, they are encouraged to develop their oral and written communication skills through play. Occupational therapy has been introduced to develop children's fine and gross motor skills to enable them to develop their writing skills. Simple mark making is later defined into letters, words and sentences using a wide range of materials. Handwriting is taught initially by applying the Read, Write Inc. formation guide and then a whole-school scheme approach is applied in dedicated, weekly handwriting lessons. Once in KS2 and children are secure in their letter formation and joins, they are rewarded with a 'Pen Licence'. All staff check that handwriting standards are maintained across all curriculum areas.  

Children develop a flair and passion for writing by having their English lessons based on quality whole-texts, films or writing for a purpose (competitions). Progression and sequencing is mapped out across the school using the Mastery Curriculum overviews listed below. 

Impact: 

We want all our children to leave St. Michael's confident in their Literacy skills and with a passion for reading and communication, across all areas of the curriculum. Our children leave St Michael's having made significant progress. This is tracked using a combination of termly assessments, internal and external moderation and teacher assessments. By the end of KS2, there are children achieving Greater Depth standard for Writing and higher scaled scores for Reading.

Below you will find links to many more useful documents and websites which I hope you will find useful. Please take time to browse through them and feel free to ask for further information at any time.
 
Mrs H. Jennings  (Subject Lead for English) 

Mrs B Lloyd (Read Write Inc Reading Leader)

Governor for English - Mrs Helen Bunce (Parent Governor)