English

We relate the English aspects of the children’s work to the objectives set out in the Communication and Language and Literacy sections of the Curriculum Guidance for Early Years Foundation Stage, which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged birth to five. In the foundation years the emphasis on the teaching and learning of English is often based on children’s first-hand experiences. We give all children the opportunity to talk and communicate in a widening range of situations, to respond to adults and to each other, to listen carefully, and to practise and extend their vocabulary and communication skills. They have the opportunity to explore words and texts, to enjoy them, to learn about them, and to use them in various situations.

Key Stage One

We use a range of approaches, including the 2014 Primary National Curriculum Document for English as the recommended guidance for implementing the statutory requirements for the teaching and learning of Literacy. By the end of Key Stage One, we aim for all children to speak confidently and listen to what others have to say. They should read and write independently and with enthusiasm and confidence. English is an integral part of teaching and is taught as a discrete subject and within every curriculum area as part of our creative approach. First hand experiences are provided wherever appropriate to inspire, motivate and improve children’s vocabulary and language skills and in turn their writing achievements. Lessons enable children to make progress and develop their knowledge, understanding and skills as they progress from the Foundation Stage to Key Stage One.

Key Stage Two

In Key Stage Two, our English curriculum is derived around a sequence of high-quality age-appropriate texts. We use each book to create opportunities to: develop reading fluency and comprehension with a focus on key reading strategies and skills; develop grammar and punctuation knowledge and understanding to use and apply across the wider curriculum; explore the writing structure and features of different genres, identifying authorial intent as well as purpose and audience; plan and write an initial piece of writing, with a clear context and purpose, before evaluating the effectiveness of writing by editing and redrafting.

Technology 

The use of technology, with clear learning objectives, will promote, enhance and support the teaching and learning in English. Computing is an integral part of Literacy and is used at whole-class, group and independent level. Children work independently or with a partner on computers and laptops. iPads can also be used to research, record and access programmes to support learning. The display of text on the whiteboard enables it to be read and shared.

A range of hardware and software is used to develop skills. Using digital cameras, software and other equipment pupils can make their own newspapers, factsheets and presentations, which can have text attached to them.

When working from home, or through remote access, our children primarily access lesson content through Seesaw or Google Classroom.  Messages are sent to pupils, via their parents, through the Marvellous Me app (EYFS and KS1) or Class Charts (KS2).

Language Acquisition and Development: Speaking and Listening

The strands of Speaking and Listening: speaking, listening, group discussion and interaction, and drama permeate the whole curriculum. Interactive teaching strategies are used to engage all pupils in order to raise reading and writing standards. Children are encouraged to develop effective communication skills in readiness for later life. We aim for children to be able to speak clearly, fluently and coherently, to be able to listen attentively with understanding, pleasure and empathy, and contribute to group discussions effectively. We aim to achieve this by:

• Giving our children confidence in themselves as speakers and listeners by showing them that we value their conversations and opinions, and encouraging a respect for the views of others.
• Being aware that we provide a model of speakers and listeners in our day-to-day interactions with them and with other adults in our school.
• Helping them to articulate their ideas and provide purposes and audiences for talk within a range of formal and informal situations, and in individual, partner, group and class contexts.
• By providing opportunities to perform to a larger audience, in assemblies and productions, where children’s efforts and skills are acknowledged by staff, parents, carers, visitors and peers.
• By providing a range of experiences where children can work collaboratively and give them opportunities to reflect on talk and explore real and imagined situations through role play, hot seating, drama and discussions.
• By developing the child’s ability to listen with attention and understanding in all areas of the curriculum and where necessary, asking and responding to questions appropriately.

We endeavour to ensure we provide our pupils with a 'language rich' environment; we do this with our links to the School Library Service, which ensures we have a wide range of texts displayed around our phase to correlate with our wider curriculum. We work closely with a range of book fairs in raising the profile of reading to ensure we share the importance of reading with our parents, carers and wider community. Within our classrooms, we explore ambitious vocabulary across the wider curriculum to ensure we acquire an understanding of tricky language through the use of our knowledge organisers, displays and other learning areas.

Phonics

At Academy 360, we strive for every child to be a successful, fluent reader by the end of KS2. We use the Read Write Inc (RWI) phonics programme across EYFS, Key Stage 1 and for those children who require phonics teaching in Key Stage 2. RWI is designed to teach children how to decode letters into sounds, a skill that is essential for them to read unfamiliar words by themselves. The children are taught letter-sounds which allow them to make links between unfamiliar print words to their spoken knowledge. The children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

Our children experience success from the very beginning. The phonics books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Reading

Fluency, Competence and Confidence

At Academy 360, once our children complete the Read, Write Inc programme, typically at the end of KS1, they begin to access our Reading Plus programme and the Accelerated Reading programme. The aim of these programmes are to improve on fluency, efficiency and to equip our children with accessible reading materials in a variety of ways.

Reading Plus, is an online reading programme designed to improve reading fluency and efficiency; it provides an integrated reading solution for all learners. It includes an adaptive assessment, personalised instruction and practice, and easily accessible resources that enable teachers to meet the needs of every student.  It customises instruction for every student by placing them at their just-right levels based on assessment data, and continually adapting to ongoing progress.  Reading Plus provides an extensive library of engaging informational and literary selections that support instructional objectives through student-centred learning. The programme may be accessed in school or from home and each student is required to complete 3 x 30 minute sessions each week. Progress and achievements are regularly checked by the classroom teacher, to ensure that the children are using the programme to their best advantage.

The Accelerated Reader programme, which is also online, assesses each student's reading capabilities from word reading and vocabulary to more in-depth comprehension. Based on an initial assessment, the reading age of the child is determined and their individual Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is identified. From that ZPD range, children can independently choose and access reading books for both reading in and around school, as well as at home. These specifically matched reading books are timetabled to be read in class each day. They are also taken home by the children to read at home, with an adult wherever possible. On completing the book, the children then take a book quiz to assess their comprehension. Once passed, the child may proceed to the next level of their ZPD, thus progressing.

In some cases, where children are struggling with more phonetic specific needs in reading, we use the Lexia programme. This is a specific intervention which identifies areas of particular weakness and produces learning support materials and lessons that can be used to help the child overcome particular barriers.

All children on these reading programmes have their own individual login codes for each. They then have convenient access whenever the opportunity arises, both at school and at home.

Please see the links below for the Reading curriciulum overview and the Literature Spine for years 1-6

A360-English-LTP-Reading.pdf

Literature-Spine-for-Academy-360-2022-2023.pdf

Comprehension

Reading comprehension is taught explicitly throughout Academy 360 Primary via whole class guided reading sessions and additional interventions, where needed.  Each year group has at least four reading sessions per week that explore and develop reading skills, alongside exploring the ‘five reasons to read’. In summary, these are: fluency, vocabulary building, retrieval, looking closer, and evaluating and analysing. Each year group has specific targeted objectives, taken from the National Curriculum, which are explored and enriched through our careful and holistic approach. Our genre coverage ensures that our pupils access both fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, throughout each half term’s work.

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for Pleasure is a vital part of every child’s educational entitlement. Studies show that developing a love of reading has huge benefits for children, contributing to pupils’ educational achievement across the curriculum in addition to providing a lifetime of enjoyment. At Academy 360, we believe that all staff should be ‘reading role models’ for pupils, encouraging them to read widely through recommendations from their own reading. We ensure that all pupils have access to a range of ‘real books’ within the Curriculum for English as well as opportunity for sustained reading from a range of other self-chosen fiction and non-fiction texts from our school library.

Reading at Home

Reading at Home is an important aspect of being a competent reader. In a study it was proved that students who score 90% better than their peers on reading tests read for 20 minutes a day. This 20 minutes a day is our home reading homework set for every student.

The children who access phonics and are still learning how to decode letters into their respective sounds are provided with two reading books to take home weekly. The children receive a book bag book and a black and white version of the story book they have been reading in school. Both books are matched appropriately to the Read Write Inc storybook and Read Write Inc coloured level. All books have a wide variety of text types, including: fiction, non-fiction and fairy tales.

Once our students can successfully decode and no longer need phonics instruction, they are introduced to our Accelerated Reader program. The program is used to determine a student's overall reading level as well as identify a student's individual strengths and weaknesses. The program provides teachers with individual student data, this contributes to plotting the student’s individual reading needs. The student is given a ranged Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) from which to select their personal reading book. Successful completion of this book and subsequent comprehension check enables them to progress onto the next level in their ZPD. This progress path is monitored to ensure the student is following the correct path, offering  guidance where necessary.

Alongside this, all KS2 pupils can access their Reading Plus profile online at home, where they access a range of carefully pitched books to meet their reading needs.

Reading Interventions

Reading Interventions, from one to one level to computer based programmes, provide students with an opportunity to increase reading, writing, test taking, and study skills at their instructional level. Each aspect of our intervention strategies are selected to meet the individual needs of students. The type and pace of instruction is modified to allow for different rates of learning. Using a variety of interventions, we approach each student as an individual and design their intervention pathway in order for them to achieve the greatest success.

The intervention programmes primarily used at Academy 360 Primary are: NELI within EYFS to consolidate and enhance language development; Read, Write Inc phonics intervention programmes at KS1; Fluency Into Comprehension - a FFT project for lower KS2; Fresh Start phonics in Years 4 to 6; and Lexia throughout KS2. 

In order to supplement these specific targeted interventions and ensure that all our pupils have the opportunity to meet their potential in reading, we facilitate the use of Reading Plus for all of our readers in KS2.  The Reading Plus programme adapts to the needs of the student and provides targeted reading instruction to help improve students’ fluency and efficiency in reading. Efficient readers are more adept at greater depths of comprehension. 

Assessment

Please see the Reading Assessment Checklists below for Years 1-6.

Year-1-Reading-Assessment-Checklist.pdfYear-2-Reading-Assessment-Checklist.pdfYear-3-and-4-Reading-Assessment-Checklist.pdfYear-5-and-6-Reading-Assessment-Checklist.pdf

Spelling

In EYFS and Key Stage One, our pupils follow RWI phonics. We encourage all of our pupils to apply their phonic knowledge when spelling. Once children complete the RWI phonics programme, they move on to Read Write Inc Spelling which is a fast paced programme with an approach underpinned by phonics. The programme is designed for Years 2-6 and has been created to meet the demands of the 2014 National Curriculum. The short lessons allow an exciting delivery using the online subscription of the Read Write Inc spelling programme. The programme allows for a consistent approach working through new spelling rules as well as consolidation of previous learning. The children are given the opportunity to participate in whole-class, partner and independent work daily.

Writing

We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for writing. Our curriculum is developed to show progression from EYFS to Year 6 with a focus on core texts, with many taken from the 5 plagues of reading. Each text has been linked to a particular writing style to ensure children have experience of writing for a range of purposes. Year groups follow a progression of SPaG skills, taught in explicit SPaG lessons, with opportunities for pupil’s to embed and apply these skills within English units.

Handwriting

Each child is to develop a handwriting style which is clear, fluent, joined, legible and individual. Formal handwriting is taught through the ‘Penpals for Handwriting’ scheme. This scheme takes a holistic view of teaching handwriting, developing both a child’s key strengths (gross & fine motor skills) and key abilities (knowledge) from Foundation Stage through to the end of Key Stage 2. It acknowledges that handwriting is a developmental process with its own distinctive stages of sequential growth.

Teachers and support staff will act as a model when writing on the board or marking work, using a fluent joined style with accurate letter formation, as appropriate to the pupils’ level of development.

Attention to posture and seating arrangements is important. Pupils who write with their left hand face particular difficulties. Teachers ensure that left handed pupils sit either next to other left handed pupils or on the left side of a right handed pupil to avoid bumping arms or smudging work.

Children in EYFS and KS1 use a pencil to mark-make in the majority of circumstances, particularly directed handwriting tasks. In reception, Year 1 and Year 2, a variety of resources are also utilised to encourage the development of fine motor control, which is essential for good handwriting. These include playdough, cutting, threading and tracing. In year 3, children are progressively introduced to handwriting pens, when ready. By the end of year 4, all children should be writing in pen.

Cross-curricular opportunities are used to provide real purposes for using handwriting skills. The motor skills necessary for handwriting will also be developed in Art, D&T and PE.

Assessment

Teacher’s assess children’s writing using the year group’s ‘Writing Checklist’. The document allows teachers to track pupils’ writing progress across the year. The targets within the framework outline whether children are working towards (WTS), working at (EXS) or working above (GDS) the expected standard in each year group. Through doing this, it identifies the pupil’s that may require further support across the components of writing. At the end of each writing unit, all pupils will be provided with a feedback slip. This will provide an opportunity for pupils and teachers to check whether or not they have met specific success criteria. Teachers will provide a ‘next step’ comment, which the pupils are encouraged to reflect upon before they begin their next piece of independent writing. This can then be planned for and addressed during interventions or as a target group during the following unit.

Please see the link below for an overview on the Secondary curriculum for English.

English-1.pdf