English

Welcome to our English Curriculum Page

English Intention

Our aim is to ensure that every child becomes a reader, a writer and confident speaker by the time they leave Mauldeth Road Primary School. We believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of reading widely and often. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

We believe that children need to develop a secure understanding of English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Reading:

• To ensure that children read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live.

• To establish an appreciation and love of reading.

• To gain and build on knowledge learnt across the English curriculum, develop their comprehension skills and apply these to different subject areas. 

Writing:

• With regards to writing, we intend for pupils to be able to plan, revise and evaluate their writing. 

• They will also develop an awareness of the audience, purpose and context and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. 

• We also intend for pupils to leave school being able to use fluent, legible and speedy handwriting.

The National Curriculum

English is a core subject in the curriculum and is delivered through daily taught sessions. We use the most recent National Curriculum as the basis for implementing the statutory requirements of the programmes of study for English. The programmes of study for English are set out year-by-year for key stage 1 and two-yearly for key stage 2.  

English Lessons

The teaching of English takes place daily through dedicated English lessons and across the curriculum. These lessons allow children to develop skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. They enable children to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate effectively. We aim to develop in children the ability to communicate effectively in speech and writing and to listen with understanding. We aim to make the children enthusiastic, critical, fluent and responsive readers who can learn and gain pleasure from the written word.

To develop our pupils as readers, we teach them to read accurately and fluently using a range of strategies. We help them to understand and respond to what they read using inference and deduction and we encourage them to read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books independently and with enjoyment. 

We aim to develop in children a range of writing skills, providing them with the opportunities to write in a variety of forms for different purposes and audiences. We want children to write fluently and accurately, convey their thoughts and ideas and write for both pleasure and communication. We believe that before children commit to paper, they should be able to verbally express their ideas. Children will often work with talk-partners and use drama activities to help do this.

Phonics

At Mauldeth Road Primary School we use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links.

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.  The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. However, at Mauldeth Road Primary School we begin the programme in Nursery and will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6dSsXkD1wM

 Reading

The children:

• learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts 
• learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
• read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
• work well with partners
• develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Fastest Finger' and 'Have a Think' discussion questions

Writing

The children:

• learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
• learn to write words by using Fred Talk
• learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write 

Talking

The children

• They work in pairs so that they:
• answer every question
• practise every activity with their partner
• take turns in talking and reading to each other
• develop ambitious vocabulary

Videos

Watch our parent tutorials to learn all about how to support your child as they learn with Read Write Inc. Phonics, with detailed ideas and advice on pronouncing pure sounds, blending, and digraphs.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

The statutory Year 1 Phonics Screening Check takes place during a specific week in June.

Every child in the Year 1 cohort will complete the check.

The check is a list of 40 words which children will read one -to-one with a familiar teacher in school.  It will assess phonics skills and knowledge learned through Reception and Year 1.

It will check that your child can:

• Sound out and blend graphemes in order to read simple words e.g. n-igh-t
• Read phonically decodable one-syllable and two-syllable words, e.g. cat, sand, windmill.
• Read a selection of nonsense words which are referred to as ‘pseudo words’.
• Parents are informed of their child’s progress from the checks in the end of year school report to parents.

Early Reading Progression Document Read Write Inc.Whole School Progression 2022-23 

Guided Reading

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme Pathways to Read. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for reading. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the reading activities provided.  

We deliver one whole class shared reading lesson and a follow on task each week as well as individual reading time. In these sessions, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills. The follow on reading tasks enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary. 

Writing Overview

Purposes: To entertain To inform To persuade To discuss

	Year 4
Year 1

Click here to access our grammar and punctuation progression document.

Spellings

In Key Stage 2, spelling is taught throughout the week using the No Nonsense Spelling programme, which provides a comprehensive progression in the teaching of spelling across the year groups.

Handwriting

Handwriting patterns are taught in Early Years to prepare for correct orientation and a sense of left/right flow. Children learn correct letter formation and begin to join their letters, as they learn graphemes in phonics sessions in Reception and KS1. Letter formation is reinforced as part of spelling practice to encourage consolidation of grapheme-phoneme correspondence. All children are taught and encouraged to fully join their handwriting from Year 3.

Contribution of English to teaching in other curriculum areas

The skills that children develop in English are linked to and applied across other subjects in our curriculum. The children’s skills in reading, writing and spoken language enable them to communicate and express themselves in all areas of their work in school.

Equal Opportunities

Every child has equal access to the English curriculum regardless of ability, age, gender or cultural background. We provide all of the children with a wide range of activities and encourage every child to develop their full potential. It is important  that children develop their own sense of worth and an increasing sense of their own place in the community and the wider world. In addition, there are many opportunities in the teaching of English to foster the attitudes of consideration, understanding and tolerance of others.

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