English

English at Nelson Mandela Primary School.

Intention:

At Nelson Mandela Primary School, we aim to develop confident children with a love of reading and language, who can write and communicate ideas coherently for different purposes and read fluently with good understanding.

We endeavour to ensure all pupils have fluency and automaticity in reading and writing so that they can meet the expected standard in all aspects of English. Through reading and literature in particular, children have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Being immersed in good quality literature develops pupils’ acquisition of a wide vocabulary, thus addressing vocabulary gaps, and allows children to explore and appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage. As an RSC Lead School, the children have the opportunity to explore the works of Shakespeare across the school as part of our curriculum as well as experiencing theatre via the Live Broadcasts. This has a direct impact on their understanding of language and how plot, characters and themes develop, all of which has helped to develop their future aspirations and cultural capital. As our context is predominantly Muslim/British, our English curriculum promotes the rich diversity of Britain, while also developing the children’s sense of belonging. We want our children to have all the skills of language that are essential to enable them to participate fully as a member of society.

Our curriculum closely follows the national curriculum for English 2014 to enable all children to:

• develop a life-long love of reading, reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

Our Curriculum:

Our English Curriculum is clearly mapped out on a year-by-year basis with all of the statutory NC (2014) objectives for reading, writing and spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. The teaching and learning of our curriculum is structured using our skills maps clearly showing progression from EYFS to Y6.

SEND Curriculum:

Our provision for pupils with SEND starts with the identification of their English needs upon arrival, usually although not exclusively, in EYFS. Those who are identified as needing more support, then follow the Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening SEND Continuum provided by Birmingham’s Access to Education Services. It provides them with a more streamlined curriculum consisting of the key statutory objectives for pupils to work through and be assessed against.

Reading:

Our reading curriculum aims to equip our children with word reading and comprehension skills as well as a love of books to enable them to become lifelong confident readers.

Word reading is taught in EYFS and KS1 through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised complete systematic synthetic phonics programme. Daily lessons, regular assessment along with one-to-one and group teaching for those at risk of falling behind and appropriate decodable reading books closely matched to their phonic knowledge all ensure children make good progress.

Comprehension skills are taught for 25 minutes 4 days a week in Year 2 and KS2 with the development of the reading content domains in KS1 and KS2 using VIPERS reading prompts., Teachers model how to use these skills effectively before the children apply these skills independently. Children in KS2 further develop their comprehension skills using the Accelerated Reader programme, ensuring children are reading appropriately challenging books.

To cultivate a love of reading, every year group has a dedicated Reading Corner where favourite books can be shared and accessed. Class novels are read daily by the class teacher, and the children, as well as taking home a matched text, choose an additional book to read or share with family.

Writing:

Writing is taught in addition to the phonics lessons and teachers ensure that there is an emphasis on the grammar skills & punctuation needed to become good writers. Writing opportunities are linked, where ever possible, to quality texts and real life experiences.

Handwriting is taught discretely using the Debbie Hepplewhite method, of teaching print handwriting in EYFS and Year 1 and the Debbie Hepplewhite method of teaching fully joined handwriting from year 2 upwards.

Spelling is taught as part of the Little Wandle SSP in KS1. In KS2 the teaching of spelling is mapped out to ensure that alongside the components of the KS2 national curriculum, the most important tier two vocabulary, morphemes and Latin/Greek root words are organised by their component phonemes, introduced in particular weeks and then repeated across Key Stage 2.

Our Assessment:

Our assessment of pupils’ learning of English consists of both formative and summative assessment, and is used to inform and improve the teaching and learning of English at our school in order to ensure that all pupils have the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding that they need to become confident and resilient readers and writers, who make, if not exceed, their expected progress.

Assessments are made each term, for each pupil in both reading and writing so that a child’s progress can be tracked throughout the year. Each term the children in KS1 and KS2 undergo summative assessments in the form of the Rising Stars Reading and Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation tests and PiRA reading assessments.

In Nursery/ Reception the children are assessed on entry and again at the end of the year to give a value added baseline score.