Intent:

At Sutton on Sea Community Primary School, we have carefully planned our English Curriculum inline with the expectations from the National Curriculum.

We recognise that competency in the four areas of literacy: speaking, listening, reading and writing, needs to be explicitly taught through an English curriculum and must implicitly underpin learning across the curriculum.

We are ambitious and have high expectations for all of our children.  We believe that they can become skilled in all aspects of literacy. 

By the time our children leave our school at the end of KS2 our intention is that all pupils:

 

• love to read and write and see it as a valuable part of their day to day lives.
• read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, both for pleasure and information.
• have acquired a wide vocabulary, an understanding of spelling and grammar, including knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.
• write in a legible, joined style and are beginning to develop their own handwriting style.
• understand the value of technology and how it can best be used so that they are prepared for life in modern Britain.
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
• use discussion to evidence learning; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, confidently making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate and drama activities including performances.

 

Implementation:

• We use a systematic, synthetic phonics programme called Little Wandle, Revised Letters and Sounds to explicitly teach the skills of word reading, spelling, letter formation and transcription right from the beginning of our children’s learning journey in EYFS.
• Children practice reading phonically decodable texts linked to the scheme as soon as they are able to blend sounds and recognise letters. 
• Whilst the children are learning to decode, we also ensure that we foster their love of stories and reading by providing picture books for them to take home too so that our parents can share books with their children beyond what they can read independently.
• Non-negotiable story time is plan for in every class to ensure that children have the opportunity to listen to a story read to them daily.  This is also an opportunity for teachers to discuss books and authors with the children and to model high quality reading fluency.
• English teaching and learning is carefully planned and sequenced using the Literacy Tree scheme of work.  Quality texts are selected to motivate and interest our children and to provide a rich experience reflecting the culture and diversity of modern Britain and the wider world.  Skills of spelling, reading comprehension, transcription and composition for writing are taught through the context of these texts, alongside the development of grammar and punctuation in line with National Curriculum expectations. Activities to practice speaking and listening skills are incorporated within these sequences including drama, discussion, debate and performance.   From an early age, our children write purposefully across subjects and genres, systematically developing their confidence and skills as writers.

Impact

By the time our pupils leave us at the end of KS2, they will:

• have developed competency, knowledge and skills in all areas of literacy.
• be able to read easily with fluency and understanding. 
• have an embedded love of reading.  They will know how to select reading materials suited to their interests and also have the confidence to branch out in order to continue to broaden their reading experiences.  Reading will be a part of their lives.
• have a growing vocabulary and the confidence to use and apply ambitious words in both spoken and written English.
• have excellent understanding of spelling conventions, syntax, grammar and punctuation. They will be able to write clearly and accurately, adapting context and style for a range of purposes and audiences.
• have excellent skills of oracy and be confident and able to articulate their learning verbally.  They will be able to discuss, elaborate and explain their ideas and understanding.  They will be competent in the art of speaking and listening, participating in discussion, debate and drama activities including performance.
• have an automatic, fluent handwriting style which is neat and legible.
• understand when and how to use technology to enhance outcomes and as a learning aid, being prepared for next steps in their education and for life in modern Britain.

Through regular, robust monitoring of outcomes, we will continually assess the impact of our English curriculum and use this information to continue to develop provision for our children.

	ENGLISH WEBSITE Curriculum Intent Statement	[pdf 5MB]
	Information for Parents	[pdf 649KB]
	Principals That Underpin Our Approach	[pdf 1MB]
	Text Rationales for Y6	[pdf 62KB]
	Text Rationales for Y5	[pdf 61KB]
	Text Rationales for Y4	[pdf 61KB]
	Text Rationales for Y3	[pdf 62KB]
	Text Rationales for Y2	[pdf 92KB]
	Text Rationales for Y1	[pdf 60KB]
	Text Rationales for Reception	[pdf 84KB]