English

Subject Intent Statement:

At Bowmandale Primary school, we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop their all-important comprehension skills. We want our children to develop to become fluent readers who read widely and are able to express preferences and opinions about the texts that they read. We also strive to develop a ‘reading for pleasure’ culture, by providing children with access to a wide range of text types, genres and authors in order for them to make informed opinions about their favourites. We want to produce children who write with confidence and accuracy for a variety of purposes and audiences whilst developing their own individual flair. We therefore recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and can adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want our children to be able to write with grammatical accuracy and be able to apply spelling patterns correctly using a neat handwriting style. We aim to expose our children to a wide range of vocabulary so that they able to decipher new words and then use them when speaking both informally and formally. Furthermore, we want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and ensure that they can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge base in 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 education and will give our children the tools that they need to be a member of both the school and also wider society.

Phonics

Phonics is a way of teaching children to read and write. It is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate sounds, and to understand the link between the sound (phoneme) and the way it is written (grapheme).

At Bowmandale Primary School we follow the Read Write Inc. programme. This scheme prepares children for learning to read and write by developing their phonics knowledge and skills.

Children in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 take part in a daily Read Write Inc. session. Phonics teaching takes place in Key Stage 2 for those pupils who require it.

Reading

In Foundation and Key Stage 1 we use the Read Write Inc Home Reading Scheme. 

We also offer Oxford Reading Tree , Songbirds, Jelly & Bean, Big Cat Phonics and Fireflies books to allow a shared reading experience with families at home.

Myla- 'I love reading stories in school.'

In Key Stage 2 we use the Oxford Reading Tree scheme which includes graphic novels, classics, poetry, Treetops Chucklers and have a range of fiction and non-fiction. Within the school reading scheme we also offer extension readers that are pitched at an appropriate level but allow the children to have access to a wider variety of books.  Once children are confident readers, they have the opportunity to read 'free reading' books which means they read books by different authors and do not follow a scheme.

Additionally, we operate a fiction and non-fiction library loan service where children are encouraged to browse our collection of books and choose something to take home. Children also have the opportunity to join and visit Barton town library. We regularly take groups/ classes to visit the library.

Children who require further support with reading may have daily 1:1 reading with adults or they attend a variety of intervention programmes run by trained teaching assistants.

We place an emphasis on comprehension at Bowmandale Primary School and encourage any adults to do the same when reading with children. Children are actively encouraged to read widely and we expect all children to read at least four times a week at home to an adult.

To ensure that the children always have access to a broad range of reading materials we also provide access to digital reading materials that can be used either in school or at home.  All of our KS2 children use Reading Plus.

Within KS2 children carry out daily Shared reading lessons.  In these lessons they develop their vocabulary knowledge and their comprehension skills - looking at particular question types such as retrieval, inference, prediction and summary.

Writing

At Bowmandale each child has a daily English lesson. Throughout the school, children are taught within their own classes, which are of mixed ability. Learning is often supported by the help of a teaching assistant.

Children are taught writing using a range of strategies including drama and text analysis. Children learn a text and examine its structures and features so that they can then apply them in their own writing based on the same genre.

All children follow the national curriculum for English.  Cross-curricular links are made where appropriate and we make clear links between reading and writing experiences to build children’s confidence in their own independent writing.

 “English is my favourite lesson; I love to write stories.”    Freddie

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS)

English grammar, punctuation and spelling was introduced by the government in 2013 to assess children's skills in each of these different areas of English. As such, it forms a part of the national tests (SATS) taken at the end of Key Stage 2. Grammar, punctuation and spelling is incorporated into discrete phonics lessons for Key Stage 1 and English lessons for Key Stage 2. The revised National Curriculum has further raised expectations of pupils by increasing the difficulty and placing an emphasis on technical language.  Children are encouraged and expected to use the grammar skills that they learn within their own writing.