English

Curriculum Lead: Mrs R. Guinan

Intent

At St Mary and St Michael Catholic Primary school we aim to inspire and ignite a love of reading and writing for all of our children. From the beginning of their journey at our school, we strive to provide opportunities to develop the skills that we feel are essential for them to become confident communicators throughout their lives.

Implementation

We use a phased approach to teaching English, which allows our children to experience how developing as readers can also enable us to develop as writers.

Through thoughtful planning of our English Curriculum we intend to support our children in becoming active readers, writers and communicators both at home and at school. The English Curriculum is designed as a ‘spiral’ curriculum, whereby the different genres are repeated throughout the key stage at an appropriate level so to build on children’s previous understanding and learning.

Our teachers understand and value our children as individuals and this is at the forefront of our minds when we plan, teach and assess the next steps on our learning journey.

Impact

At the end of the year, we expect the children to achieve ARE (age related expectations) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further, and others, who have gaps in their learning, will receive appropriate intervention. We assess children formally at the end of each term in both reading and writing and also informally throughout our daily teaching.

We use the Lancashire KLIPs (Key Learning Indicators of Performance) to track progress in Reading and Writing during the course of the year as well as Lancashire’s LAPS (Learning And Progression Steps) which break down the KLIPs into termly steps for more manageable tracking.

Progression of Skills and Knowledge

We use Lancashire KLIPS and LAPS for progression of skills and knowledge. We adapt these as necessary to meet the needs of our pupils.

Extra Information

 

At SSMM we use 'Phonics Bugs' for our reading scheme in Early Years and Year 1 (Year 2 for those children who have not passed the Phonics Screening Check).

Phonics Bug Club is an online reading scheme, which ensures children have access to decodable books, which are varied and have a rich reading experience. What’s more, there is a personalised website for each child using the online reading world.  The books are allocated to the children linked to the sounds they are learning that week. 

It is also used in Key Stage Two, where it forms an integral part of the children's journey into becoming more independent readers both on an individual level and as part of the Guided Reading carousel.

The children (Year 1 to Year 6) also have access to a variety of published schemes (ORT, Bug Club, Rigby Star and others) and our school library.  The published schemes are organised in widely based book bands and our library is organised by key stages and fiction/non-fiction books.

Developing a child's vocabulary, is a key element for all their learning. As such we recommend that parents spend time talking to their child about the book as well as listening to them read.

Below are some helpful guides for parents of children from Year 1 - 6 which give ideas and strategies for home reading.

Bug Club Log in page - This is where the children log in to find their Bug Club books which have been allocated by their teacher. They will need their log in details, including the school code.

Key Stage 1

  • Listen to traditional tales.
  • Listen to a range of texts.
  • Learn some poems by heart.
  • Become familiar with a wide range of texts of different lengths.
  • Discuss books.
  • Build up a repertoire of poems to recite.
  • Use the class and school libraries.
  • Listen to short novels over time.

Key Stage 2

  • Read and listen to a wide range of styles of text, including fairy stories, myths and legends.
  • Listen to and discuss a wide range of texts.
  • Learn poetry by heart.
  • Increase familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths and legends, traditional stories, modern fiction, classic British fiction and books from other cultures.
  • Take part in conversations about books.
  • Learn a wide range of poetry by heart.
  • Use the school and community libraries.
  • Look at classification systems.
  • Look at books with a different alphabet to English.
  • Read and listen to whole books.

Parent Handy Hints for Reading Y1-6

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If you are struggling to find books suitable for your child's age group then the website Love Reading 4 Kids may be helpful. It is full of up to date book reviews and recommendations.

The following links are recommended reading lists for each year group put together by Love Reading 4 Kids:

 

Writing Key Stage 1 Key Stage 2

Narrative
  • Write stories set in places pupils have been.
  • Write stories with imaginary settings.
  • Write stories and plays that use the language of fairy tales and traditional tales.
  • Write stories that mimic significant authors.
  • Write narrative diaries.
  • Write stories set in places pupils have been.
  • Write stories that contain mythical, legendary or historical characters or events.
  • Write stories of adventure.
  • Write stories of mystery and suspense.
  • Write letters.
  • Write plays.
  • Write stories, letters, scripts and fictional biographies inspired by reading across the curriculum.

Non-fiction
  • Write labels.
  • Write lists.
  • Write captions.
  • Write instructions.
  • Write recounts.
  • Write glossaries.
  • Present information.
  • Write non-chronological reports.
  • Write instructions.
  • Write recounts.
  • Write persuasively.
  • Write explanations.
  • Write non-chronological reports.
  • Write biographies.
  • Write in a journalistic style.
  • Write arguments.
  • Write formally.

Poetry
  • Write poems that use pattern, rhyme and description.
  • Write nonsense and humorous poems and limericks.
  • Learn by heart and perform a significant poem.
  • Write haiku.
  • Write cinquain.
  • Write poems that convey an image (simile, word play, rhyme and metaphor).

Note:

Only the following are statutory at KS1: 

  • Personal experiences
  • Real events
  • Poetry
  • Different purposes.

Only the following are statutory at KS2: 

  • Narratives
  • Non-fiction
  • Poetry
  • Different purposes.

 

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How to be a Reading Super Hero at SSMM

This is the power point and accompanying handouts.

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