INTENT

At the Convent of Jesus and Mary Infant School & Nursery we believe that a quality English curriculum is essential to develop pupil’s love of Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing. We aim to foster an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a love of READING at home and school for purpose and pleasure. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where pupils take pride in their WRITING, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We endeavour to inspire all pupils to use their skills of SPEAKING and LISTENING confidently in their communication with others, their discussions and debate to further their learning.
We believe that pupils must develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. Furthermore, securing strong foundations in Literacy skills is crucial to ensure our pupils acquire a high-quality education as they move through the next stages of their education to guarantee they have the necessary tools to participate fully as members of society.

Our curriculum closely follows the aims of the 2014 National Curriculum for English. Therefore, we aim to ensure our pupils;

• 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;
• 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.

The aims of the National Curriculum are consistently embedded across our Literacy lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a creative and inspiring English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. Our English Handbook supports teachers through the implementation of our English curriculum which has been developed around a coherent sequence of high-quality, age-appropriate texts closely connected to the overall vision or intent of our school which is concerned with the local, national and global environment and aims to ensure our pupils access the enriching experiences the outdoors can provide, enabling them to understand the impact of our way of life in the world we live in. As such, we undertake to support Pope Francis’s message in his encyclical – ‘Laudato Si’ which found inspiration in Saint Francis of Assisi ‘Canticle of the Sun’; a beautiful prayer to celebrate God’s creation. We see our pupils as stewards of the earth; therefore, our curriculum explores big questions about the environment and Pope Francis call for action.

IMPLEMENTATION

Speaking and Listening

Speaking and listening is central to our curriculum and is developed from the EYFS through to KS1, and across the wider curriculum. We nurture pupil’s speaking and listening skills through a variety of approaches; exploratory play, drama, role play, hot seating, etc. We develop these skills so that our pupils are capable of expressing their own ideas clearly and confidently, in a safe and supportive environment, in all areas of learning and into their future.

Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that our pupils hear, and share are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding of reading and writing. Therefore, we ensure subject specific vocabulary is embedded across the wider curriculum through teacher modelling, and our pupils use it in context. Contextual learning supports pupils to understand new words and including them in their work.

This is evident in shared reading sessions across the curriculum, where pupils are given the chance to explore unfamiliar vocabulary and expand their knowledge of words. We always endeavour to model the correct grammar and expect pupils to do the same in their use of spoken and written language. Pupils are regularly given the chance to orally rehearse ideas for writing, they are also encouraged to develop their speaking and listening through assemblies, class presentations and use of pupil voice. This helps to develop their confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills.

Reading

Our pupils excel in early reading through the use of the Pearson Rigby Reader book scheme. This scheme is used for both guided reading – ‘Book Talk’ and home-reading, enabling all pupils to practice their fluency and understanding skills. We use the Pearson Rigby Reader books, as well as the online platform (Bug Club) so that our pupils are enthused by the wide range of diverse, high-quality texts, covering a range of genres and topics. This will help to motivate and inspire our pupils to develop a true love of reading in school and at home. Pearson readers have a large selection of genres graded to different levels of English, so there is a text suitable for everyone! English learners of any age can enjoy and learn from reading, whatever their language level, because each series is graded to different levels. The texts are engaging with colourful illustrations enabling pupils to explore characters plot and setting. Pupils are also encouraged to read texts outside the Pearson reader scheme, so that their own personal interests are further developed. 

At the Convent of Jesus and Mary Infant School & Nursery, we believe that writing is strengthened by instilling in our pupils a love for reading. We value the significant impact reading has on the successful development of writing, by providing a purpose and a context for writing. It is our intent to ensure our pupils develop a deep connection and devotion for reading and are exposed to high quality vocabulary, which will impact on their ability to become authors and develop their own, individualised style of writing.

We choose texts that create opportunities to develop reading fluency and comprehension skills with a focus on building on key reading strategies, grammar and punctuation knowledge and an understanding of how to apply this knowledge across the wider curriculum. Each English topic revolves around a high-quality text from which the writing genres are also explored.

Age appropriate texts are used to develop a range of decoding skills and we also use these texts to develop fluency across the curriculum. Book Talk sessions are used to develop pupil’s understanding of what they read. These texts include phonetically decodable texts, quality picture books, chapter books, poetry and non-fiction. This includes the teaching of reading skills, such as; vocabulary, retrieval, explain, sequence, inference, prediction, making links, and connections. Pupils understanding of text is closely monitored through the use of Book Talk independent tasks, and observations across the wider curriculum.

We recognise the importance of developing vocabulary, as this will enhance understanding of any text pupils read, particularly in light of our high EAL intake. Additionally, we recall and recite poetry, rhymes poems and songs daily as this attunes our pupils to the sounds of language which further develops the love of reading and enhances understanding of text. Poetry in our language rich classroom builds shared memories for all our pupils.

We have a strong home/school partnership in order to further develop our pupil’s reading skills. The home reading scheme, offers age appropriate, phonetically decodable texts to read at home. Our pupils are also encouraged to take home quality texts from their reading corner to ensure reading for pleasure is further enhanced. We also offer an online reading platform (Bug Club Reading), that pupils are motivated to read texts (phonetically decodable) of their own choice and demonstrate their understanding through a comprehension task that links to the teacher assessment of reading. The partnership between home and school to develop early reading is essential as it deepens understanding and love of reading.

Reading is abundantly celebrated in our school through highly engaging displays that show a coherent progression of writing, the authors focus which include our author of the term displays that include relevant and diverse interests in poets, illustrators, and authors alike. Also, our highly inspiring reading corners, which have been created in every classroom for pupils to read for pleasure, are filled with pupils’ favourite books, author and genre focus as well as recommended texts. Each week, we dedicate time to read for pleasure in the classrooms or in our beautiful character themed library. When they read for pleasure, pupils are encouraged to choose the books they wish to read and enjoy, they may choose to share a book with a peer, to read topic books linked to our wider curriculum or listen to an adult reading aloud.  In addition, throughout the school year the importance of reading is enhanced through World Book Day, National Poetry Day, regular visits from authors and poets, Book Fairs, Year of the Word, etc.

Writing

Writing is an integral part of our curriculum. We use the CLPE writing scales to describe the journey that our pupils make in order to become literate. These writing scales support our teachers in understanding what progression in writing looks like. Each classroom environment supports our pupils’ development as writers.

All pupils from the EYFS to Year two are provided with daily opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the wider curriculum. Through the English Handbook, all teachers follow a yearly overview of the writing genres they should teach. Our language rich lessons are planned to ensure correct coverage of the key genres as well as build on skills and knowledge year on year.

Planned units usually take between two and four weeks to complete, and the outcome of each unit is a quality piece of writing which will be used to assess the pupil’s skills against the agreed success criteria.  Each week, our pupils are taught to develop an understanding of the text through reading comprehension - exploring key themes, events, setting, plot and characters. Pupils are then taught grammar skills which should link with the particular genre of writing being explored at the time. They learn to identify and apply the grammatical knowledge within the modelled text, before progressing through the process of writing with discussing ideas, planning, writing, editing, re-drafting in order to ensure it is fit for purpose and audience. Through this progression of learning, our pupils develop a clear understanding of the writing process from early acquisition to fluent writers and establish themselves as authors in their own right.

We develop our pupils’ writing skills in order to improve their stamina and ability to write with confidence and reach the expected standard for their age and beyond. Our pupils begin their writing journey through visual literacy, drama and role play which builds upon their knowledge of writing for different purpose and audience. They journey through the process of writing by discussing ideas, planning, writing, editing, re-drafting in order to ensure the end result is to publish and display their learning.  Our pupils are exposed to high level vocabulary through the diverse and quality literature we use as well as the language used through the wider curriculum. Spelling and Grammar is taught using our online platform Pearson Bug Club.

The Grammar and Spelling Bug programme of study is an excellent, expert-led resource with a wealth of fun and engaging activities. It provides learning support that breaks down grammar and spelling into small, logical, cumulative steps of learning – with a treasure trove of engrossing online games and videos to support our pupils master the basics. The Grammar and Spelling Bug is introduced with an online diagnostic test that determines what our pupils already know and highlights gaps in learning. The lessons are taught through whole class activities which support the mastering of key skills in spelling and grammar. Teaching handwriting skills is regularly incorporated into English lessons and parents are encouraged to support this at home as well as the weekly grammar, spelling and speaking and listening home learning tasks.

Phonics

Synthetic phonics at our school is taught in context using the Pearson Bug Club Phonics: The programme fosters pupil’s speaking and listening skills and equips them with the phonic knowledge and skills they need to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. The Bug Club Phonics programme enables pupils to see the relationship between reading and spelling from an early phase so that the teaching of one reinforces understanding of the other. Decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) are treated as reversible processes. This is made up of a six-phase teaching programme with each phase building on the skills and knowledge of previous learning. They are also taught to read and spell high frequency words for their phase.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage One, daily high-quality, interactive phonics lessons are taught daily. Pupils are assessed half termly to ensure they are progressing successfully through the phases. Streaming is used in Reception, year one and year two to ensure that all the pupils are working towards or within the expected standard for phonics. Pupils in Year 1 are assessed against the Phonics Screening Check in June each year. This shows whether they have met the expected standard of phonic knowledge for their age. These assessments highlight ability groups, which are determined with flexibility. Those pupils who do not meet the expected standard are supported through continuing whole-class daily phonics and additional intervention in Year 2 to support them to reach the expected standard. All staff are trained in phonics to ensure consistency and support for all pupils across the phases.

Handwriting

The implementation of good quality writing through daily handwriting practice enables the progression of fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy handwriting. All pupils are taught using a consistent approach to handwriting supported by the ‘Handwriting Association’. All staff have had handwriting training through the handwriting association and have a good understanding of the end of year expectation for each year group. (Refer to English Handbook). Activities using gross and fine motor skills are taught and practised by pupils in EYFS, and where appropriate, in Key Stage One. Fine motor groups are set up in the EYFS and KS1 to further support pupils with their handwriting. The expectations of handwriting and presentation of writing are modelled by teachers using ‘Letter- join’, our online handwriting programme of study. Letter-join begins in the EYFS with the use of patterns and pre-writing shapes which naturally leads on to the introduction of real printed letters. New letter forms including capital letters, numbers, and punctuation are continued as pupils move to KS1. Pupils are able to progress through the spelling and grammar curriculum with regular summative assessments, including a weekly spelling tests. A cursive font is consistently used in KS1 and policy states that all displays should also use the same font (joinit). Parents are fully aware of our choice of font which is also used in regular correspondence.

IMPACT

The impact of our curriculum on our pupil’s is evident in our pupils’ love of speaking, reading and writing, which comes from the use of high quality texts, engaging environments, inspiring visitors as well as the extracurricular experiences we offer to complement the curriculum. Pupils development is also clear through the consistently sustained learning and transferrable skills they acquire and how these transfers into progress and attainment data. The excellent teaching team, the rigorous monitoring system, and the consistent approach to the English curriculum, are successfully reflected in the evaluation process for reading, writing and speaking and listening. Teachers assess termly and the expectation is for pupils to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some pupils will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GRD).  Pupils who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention at that point in time or through transition meetings this will be identified for the next academic year. Teacher’s judgements are moderated internally and externally. They are based on current best practice (and national exemplification where appropriate). Clear progression of skills and knowledge in English can be seen in pupil’s workbooks; displays around the school, in assemblies, pupil voice and role play areas as well as in the playground. At the end of Reception and KS1 our pupils are ready to transition to the next stage of their education.     

Learning to segment and blend

  Enhancing Strategies: