Curriculum Intent Statement

At Our Lady and St Joseph school our English Curriculum is designed to instill in children a love of reading and writing that will last them a lifetime. We also aim to develop their speaking and listening skills in all areas of learning. Giving pupils these key skills in English enables them to access material in all curriculum areas, and provides a foundation for their learning throughout their school career. We focus on making English interesting and exciting, engaging the pupils with the wonder of books and seek to develop their imagination and creativity. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. 

At Our Lady and St Joseph school we view the teaching of English as a fundamental part of their holistic development to benefit pupils throughout their education and beyond.We believe that a secure foundation in literacy skills is crucial in enabling access to a high quality curriculum. We seek to give our children the tools they need to participate and thrive in the world they are growing up in.

Curriculum Implementation

At Our Lady and St Joseph Primary School reading is a key priority and always has been. Without early reading fluency the children and pupils will be unable  to access the curriculum offer. Our focus is on reading for pleasure and children’s daily reading sessions are timetabled. 

See policies below.

In Year 1, children have daily supported reading, guided reading in Year 2 and KS2 children follow the Destination Reader reading programme. 

Children are given opportunities to quietly read at their own pace books of their own choice. Two book fairs a year are being held in order to encourage children to read. Teachers read to their class everyday and we convey the message to parents that reading is about enjoyment. 

English lessons are based on carefully selected, high quality texts and cross-curricular links with the class current learning are made whenever possible. Each text is purposefully selected in order to promote a love of reading, engagement and high quality writing from each child.

We aim for high quality writing to take place in the Literacy lessons and across the curriculum. Teachers provide various opportunities for extended writing sessionand new vocabulary is explored, displayed and its application is encouraged. Drama and speaking, oracy and listening are highly valued in the lesson sequences. We support the children by the use of visuals, language rich environment, discussions. Classroom displays and working walls reflect current learning. 

Handwriting is taught explicitly and children work towards a pen licence, children are expected to join their handwriting as they progress through the school. Weekly spellings are progressive throughout the school and focus on the spelling strategies that are required for each year group. A 'look, cover, write, check' approach is used and actively promoted. We consider good presentation to be an important element of writing.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) is taught within Literacy lessons and embedded across the curriculum. English Curriculum is celebrated through a variety of themed days: Poetry Day, Roald Dahl Week, World Book Day and Literacy assemblies to celebrate achievement. Class assemblies are often based on children’s favourite books. 

 Phonics: 

We aim for children to master basic phonics skills as quickly as possible so they are able to decode texts fluently, leaving them free to develop the more complex process of reading with deeper understanding. The school has had great success in the teaching of phonics in Key Stage 1 exceeding the National Standards and in the top 2% in the country several years. This is due to effective teaching and targeted interventions delivered to pupils who needed additional support to meet the national expectation. Phonics is taught progressively as soon as children start the Reception Year through to the end of Year One on a daily basis using the Floppy's Phonics Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme using letters and sounds progression. This is a phased teaching programme that develops children’s phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed and systematic programme for teaching phonic skills for children starting within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with the aim of them becoming fluent readers and having a sound understanding of common high frequency spellings by the end of Key Stage One. Children take home phonetically decodable texts to further support them with their reading skills. 

Curriculum Impact

The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills.  With the implementation of the writing journey being well established and taught thoroughly in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and by the time they are in upper Key Stage 2, most genres of writing are familiar to them and the teaching can focus on creativity, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.

As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, cross curricular writing standards have also improved and skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding.  We aim for all of our children to develop a life-long love of reading and thirst for knowledge. 

Year 1

Phonics 

The school uses the Oxford Reading Tree 'Floppy's Phonics' SSP. This is a DfE approved scheme. This is a systematic scheme and uses synthetic phonics in full compliance with 2021 requirements.

Reading

• Match graphemes for all phonemes
• Read accurately by blending sounds
• Read words with very common suffixes
• Read contractions & understand purpose
• Read phonics books aloud
• Link reading to own experiences
• Join in with predictable phrases
• Discuss significance of title & events
• Make simple predictions

Writing

• Name letters of the alphabet
• Spell very common ‘exception’ words
• Spell days of the week
• Use very common prefixes & suffixes
• Form lower case letters correctly
• Form capital letters & digits
• Compose sentences orally before writing
• Read own writing to peers or teachers

Grammar

• Leave spaces between words
• Begin to use basic punctuation: . ? !
• Use capital letters for proper nouns.
• Use common plural & verb suffixes

Speaking & Listening

• Listen & respond appropriately
• Ask relevant questions
• Maintain attention & participate

Year 2

Reading

• Develop phonics until decoding secure
• Read common suffixes
• Read & re-read phonic-appropriate books
• Read common ‘exception’ words
• Discuss & express views about fiction, non-fiction & poetry
• Become familiar with & retell stories
• Ask & answer questions; make predictions
• Begin to make inferences

Writing

• Spell by segmenting into phonemes
• Learn to spell common ‘exception’ words
• Spell using common suffixes, etc.
• Use appropriate size letters & spaces
• Develop positive attitude & stamina for writing
• Begin to plan ideas for writing
• Record ideas sentence-by-sentence
• Make simple additions & changes after proof-reading

Grammar

• Use . ! ? , and ’
• Use simple conjunctions
• Begin to expand noun phrases
• Use some features of standard English

Speaking & Listening

• Articulate & Justify answers
• Initiate & respond to comments
• Use spoken language to develop understanding

Year 3

Reading

• Use knowledge to read ‘exception’ words
• Read range of fiction & non-fiction
• Use dictionaries to check meaning
• Prepare poems & plays to perform
• Check own understanding of reading
• Draw inferences & make predictions
• Retrieve & record information from non-fiction books
• Discuss reading with others

Writing

• Use prefixes & suffixes in spelling
• Use dictionary to confirm spellings
• Write simple dictated sentences
• Use handwriting joins appropriately
• Plan to write based on familiar forms
• Rehearse sentences orally for writing
• Use varied rich vocabulary
• Create simple settings & plot
• Assess effectiveness of own and others’ writing

Grammar

• Use range of conjunctions
• Use perfect tense
• Use range of nouns & pronouns
• Use time connectives
• Introduce speech punctuation
• Know language of clauses

Speaking & Listening

• Give structured descriptions
• Participate activity in conversation
• Consider & evaluate different viewpoints

Year 4

Reading

• Secure decoding of unfamiliar words
• Read for a range of purposes
• Retell some stories orally
• Discuss words & phrases that capture the imagination
• Identify themes & conventions
• Retrieve & record information
• Make inferences & justify predictions
• Recognise a variety of forms of poetry
• Identify & summarise ideas

Writing

• Correctly spell common homophones
• Increase regularity of handwriting
• Plan writing based on familiar forms
• Organise writing into paragraphs
• Use simple organisational devices
• Proof-read for spelling & punctuation errors
• Evaluate own and others’ writing
• Read own writing aloud

Grammar

• Use wider range of conjunctions
• Use perfect tense appropriately
• Select pronouns and nouns for clarity
• Use & punctuate direct speech
• Use commas after front adverbials

Speaking & Listening

• Articulate & justify opinions
• Speak audibly in Standard English
• Gain, maintain & monitor interest of listeners

Year 5

Reading

• Apply knowledge of morphology & etymology when reading new words
• Reading & discuss a broad range of genres & texts
• Identifying & discussing themes
• Make recommendations to others
• Learn poetry by heart
• Draw inference & make predictions
• Discuss authors’ use of language
• Retrieve & present information from non-fiction texts.
• Formal presentations & debates

Writing

• Secure spelling, inc. homophones, prefixes, silent letters, etc.
• Use a thesaurus
• Legible, fluent handwriting
• Plan writing to suit audience & purpose
• Develop character, setting and atmosphere in narrative
• Use organisational & presentational features
• Use consistent appropriate tense
• Proof-reading
• Perform own compositions

Grammar

• Use expanded noun phrases
• Use modal & passive verbs
• Use relative clauses
• Use commas for clauses
• Use brackets, dashes & commas for parenthesis

Speaking & Listening

• Give well-structured explanations
• Command of Standard English
• Consider & evaluate different viewpoints
• Use appropriate register

Year 6

Reading

• Read a broad range of genres
• Recommend books to others
• Make comparisons within/across books
• Support inferences with evidence
• Summarising key points from texts
• Identify how language, structure, etc. contribute to meaning
• Discuss use of language, inc. figurative
• Discuss & explain reading, providing reasoned justifications for views

Writing

• Use knowledge of morphology & etymology in spelling
• Develop legible personal handwriting style
• Plan writing to suit audience & purpose; use models of writing
• Develop character & setting in narrative
• Select grammar & vocabulary for effect
• Use a wide range of cohesive devices
• Ensure grammatical consistency

Grammar

• Use appropriate register/ style
• Use the passive voice for purpose
• Use features to convey & clarify meaning
• Use full punctuation
• Use language of subject/object

Speaking & Listening

• Use questions to build knowledge
• Articulate arguments & opinions
• Use spoken language to speculate, hypothesise & explore
• Use appropriate register & language