Faldingworth Primary School

English Intent, Implementation and Impact Overview

• Intention 1 – English Curriculum

Intent

To build an English curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of skills and knowledge as set out in the National Curriculum to enable children to reach their full potential both at Faldingworth School and beyond.

Implementation

English is taught following a scheme of work created by each teacher. The scheme of work may be based upon a commercial scheme (such as Hamilton Trust). The scheme allows for constant revisiting of key concepts and uses a wide variety of texts – written and visual texts -  from a range of genres and cultural origins.

Impact

All children will make at least good progress from their starting point (statutory assessment) in each of the areas of English.

• Intention 2 – To build a curriculum which develops a love of reading

Intent

To design a curriculum which has reading at its core across all curriculum areas. In choosing high quality texts, we intend to develop a love of reading as well as an understanding that reading allows children to discover new knowledge, to fuel their imagination and also to give them ideas to use in their own writing. We provide a rich source of material to enable children to gain an understanding of the world beyond their own experience. 

Implementation

Phonics

The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily to all children in Dragons Class(EYFS and KS1).

Little Wandle is the resource used and staff show exclusive fidelity to the scheme and its guiding principles: direct teaching in short bursts, systematic progression, repeated practice, fast pace and the opportunity to apply skills as they are learned with the use of phonically decodable books.

We identify children at risk of falling behind and provide keep up support for them. Further support in the form of focused interventions is provided for all children who have fallen behind with phonics.

Reading

Reading forms the core of the curriculum. All children read. Books are selected by teachers, giving a careful consideration to each child’s age, ability, interests and maturity. We use books from a range of reading schemes which are carefully banded using the book banding system.

Children in Key Stage 2 are introduced to My Book Blog. They are given a choice of real books matched to their ability to read and have a series of online activities linked to comprehension to complete as they read.

All children in Y2 and all children on the SEND register complete the Salford reading test to enable staff to measure progress accurately.

Individual reading – all children in Dragons Class read to an adult at least once a week. As a school, we encourage parents and carers to read with their children and listen to them read aloud. Each class has its own rewards system. The expectation is that all children should read aloud at least three times a week. When we are unable to get parents to fulfil this role, we endeavour to arrange for adults in school to do so.

All children take part in guided reading – in which all children read in groups and also are involved in high quality discussions around key themes and have the opportunity to express their opinions and find evidence to support these views.

Impact

All children will make at least good progress from their starting point (statutory assessment) in reading and also develop an enthusiasm for reading which will sustain throughout their school and adult lives.

• Intention 3: To develop speaking, listening and writing skills

Intent

The promotion of a language rich curriculum is essential. The development of speech and language is identified as one of the most important parts of our school’s early years curriculum. 

The promotion and use of an accurate and rich cross curricular vocabulary throughout school is planned in all subjects.

Children get the opportunity to speak in front of a range of audiences – including regular drama presentations, debates and discussions.

All children write daily. There are opportunities for them to apply their knowledge with links to the wider curriculum. They write in a range of genres and for a range of purposes, and revisit these throughout the school, writing with increasingly greater sophistication. They are given many opportunities and time to write, enabling them to gain resilience and to write with sustained concentration.

Active English is used as a means of teaching the National Curriculum relating to punctuation and grammar. This is taught in a spiral curriculum – with repeated opportunities to revisit areas.

The Nelson handwriting scheme is used as the basis for the structured approach to handwriting. The expectation is that children will join their handwriting by the end of Y2. Good presentation is expected and celebrated.

A systematic approach to spelling is begun in the Early Years with the teaching of phonics and continues in KS1 and KS2s. In KS1 and KS2 the Nelson Spelling programme is used, supplemented with No Nonsense spelling and other materials as appropriate including ICT solutions such as Spelling Shed. 

All children in KS1 and KS2 have bespoke writing targets, children and parents are aware of these targets. These provide a structure for children to constantly improve.

Impact

All children will make at least good progress from their starting point (statutory assessment) in speaking, listening and writing. Children have an unaided writing portfolio which is added to 6 times per year. These enable teachers’ judgements to be moderated and also serves as a source for viewing children’s progress.