Welcome to our English Curriculum page. Here you will find lots of information about how your child will develop, enhance, learn and love English whilst at Flockton School. 

 

English Documents

 

English Intent:

At Flockton, we believe that a quality English Curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. We aim to inspire an appreciation of quality literature and a habit of reading widely and often. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion.

 

To aid the fulfilment of our intent we are a graduated English Hub partner school. As a partner school, we have had extensive support to drive standards in reading teaching and early language development.  We use the DFE’s challenge checklist to guide our practise.

 

Writing:

To support the National Curriculum for English from year 1 and the EYFS, we follow a whole school mastery approach to writing through the programme Pathways to Write. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provides. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the pathways to write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.

 

Early Writing

 During phonic lessons and through the continuous provision we practice prewriting skills and correct pencil grip. The children begin to write letters and words followed by dictated sentences using the sounds that they have been taught.  The children are encouraged to ‘say it’ before they write it as a non-negotiable skill.   

 

An Overview of Pathways to Write

 

 

Writing Skills Progression Map

The skills progression details the writing skills that pupils will gain at each stage of the curriculum.

You will find the Pathways to Write end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the attached documents above as well as, the National Curriculum Writing statutory requirements and the Skills Progression document.

 

Implementation:

As a school we believe reading and writing skills overlap. We therefore adopt an approach where we use high quality mentor texts. Children are shown ‘What a good one looks like’ (WAGOLL) which they unpick and learn from dovetailed with teacher modelling the writing thought process.  ‘What a good one thinks like’  (WAGOTL) which enables the children to imitate, innovate and develop metacognitive and self-regulatory strategies.

 

Text Drivers for each class

 

Apple Class

 

Sycamore Class

 

Elder Class

 

Choice of Texts:

When selecting the above texts we considered:

 

Does it feature a ‘big idea at its heart’?

Does it reflect a diverse range of voices and characters?

Does it feature ‘rich, lyrical language’?
Could the book develop pupils’ wider knowledge?
Does it offer an opportunity for pupils to encounter a different genre or format?

 

Reading Intent:

Reading is our priority as it allows access to all of the curriculum. We don’t wont to leave any child behind and we are determined that every child becomes a reader- however long it takes.

 

Implementation:

Early Reading:

We use Monster Phonics a DFE approved award winning programme that uses a multisensory approach (see Monster Phonic section of our website).   You can find out more about Monster Phonics on thier website.

Monster Phonics Introduction

 

For older children who have not yet grasped basic skills: The Monster Phonic intervention activities provide practise in everything from basic phonological awareness to vocabulary development and fluency.  Readers of all levels can expect support and challenge to help them improve their reading ability. We think stage not age.

 

Fluency:

We know there is a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Fluency at Flockton is developed through: repeated practise for automaticity and accuracy; whole class / group assisted reads to develop prosody. Without fluency the children are unable to comprehend. Staff at Flockton are dedicated to modelling prosody and ensuring children are given time to practise their reading skills. For children who need additional fluency intervention, this year, we are piloting the Herts for Fluency project.  An evidenced-informed reading intervention project which accelerates progress in reading.

 

For more detail follow the link for Herts for Fluency project.

https://www.hfleducation.org/reading-fluency

 

 

Post Phonics:

We use a modelled and shared reading approach which enables the children to become active readers- this means that the voice inside the reader’s head is active in the moment of reading. The teacher models the voice while reading one text to engage all pupils and develop all areas of comprehension together.  Pathways to read is used from Year 3 to year 5. It is a programme designed to equip pupils with key skills to move them through the reading process towards becoming competent and fluent readers. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to high quality text. Pathways to Read ensures engaging and purposeful reading lessons. Throughout the programme pupils are directly taught tier 2 and tier 3 words to deliberately build their vocabulary. Along side this, the teachers read a wide range of stories and poetry to the pupils during protected story time.

 

Pathways to Read

 

 

Reading for pleasure:

 

Each year group has a selection of age related real books which they can select. These books are updated regularly (see fund raising events) and include different genre and diversity so that our children progress on a social, emotional, spiritual , moral as well as an academic level.

 

KS1: A fully decodable book which links to their phonic stage is sent home. In addition books are taken home to share with parents these are not fully decodable books and are for the parent and child to enjoy together.  We also run a lending library where children can visit the library each week to take a book home.  These books are picked by the children and support is given when choosing.  We expect that some of these books will need support from a more experienced reader. 

The children hear adults read stories and rhymes daily.  We use ‘Talk Through Stories’ to aid the children’s vocabulary and comprehension.

 

Our literacy lead has put together a comprehensive list of book recommendations for all children and can be viewed on the class page. 

 

Talk Through Stories

 

 

KS2

A selection of age appropriate real books are provided for the children to select from. The children use the five finger rule to self assess their choice. Eg if they come across more than five words on the first page that they do not understand then they know that book isn’t right for them.

 

Children who are not fully fluent are checked through a placement procedure to ensure that they are reading a book at the right level for them to enjoy. Reading books they enjoy is encouraged.

 (See year group suggested book lists on class pages)

 

Reading Assessment:

Throughout each term assessment of reading is on going using age related reading domains and question stems provided by Monster Phonics and Pathways to Read.  

 

Reading assessment papers are completed in Autumn, Spring and Summer terms. These provide a standardised score and reading age for each child and are analysed for attainment and progress.

 

Writing Assessment:

Judgements are made termly of each childs standard of writing against year group statements. These are carefully broken down into working towards, age related and greater depth sections so that each child can progress through them during the year. 

 

Grammar , Punctuation and spelling are assessed termly using GAP assessment papers.