English
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.
Dr Seuss
English Intent Statement
At St Vincent's we have developed an English curriculum with high quality children's literature at it's heart. We believe that high quality literature can open children's eyes to the world, inspiring them for the future and seeing life beyond the classroom.
Oracy and Literacy skills are skills for life.
We aim for our children to become confident, effective communicators who can clearly express themselves and listen respectfully to others.
Through the quality literature our children have access to we aim to instil a love of reading that will last a lifetime!
Writing in different styles for a range of purposes gives our children an insight into the everyday importance of writing skills, working towards our aim of becoming imaginative, creative writers.
English Implementation
At St Vincent's our English curriculum fulfils the programmes of study set out in the National Curriculum and our teachers strive to plan engaging, purposeful schemes of work around high quality children's literature.
We keep up to date with new publications through agencies such as the CLPE and the Book Trust, choosing texts that will captivate and entertain our children as well as encouraging them to question and draw their own conclusions. We are currently using schemes of work from the Literacy Tree Curriculum.
Each unit of work in English will enable our children to immerse themselves in a text, getting a feel for different characters, settings and times. Children engage in 'book talk' discussions, drama activities and debates to promote oracy. Through these chosen texts, children are taught the features of a range of genres and key grammatical concepts that fit the genre, along with those that are age appropriate. In each unit of work children will develop the necessary skills to complete their own piece of independent writing. Following on from this they are guided with skills for editing and polishing to ensure their work is 'the best it can be'!
Children at St Vincent's have a varied reading 'diet'. From the very beginnings of learning phonics within early reading to evidencing ideas and inferences at the end of Key Stage 2, all our children are exposed to a wide variety of children's literature in different contexts.
In EYFS, early reading begins with phonics and picture books. Children are taught to identify, segment and blend sounds and recognise key sight vocabulary using the systematic synthetic phonics programme Little Wandle. Early comprehension begins with recapping characters and events.
In KS1, children are encouraged to read fluently, identifying, segmenting and blending digraphs and trigraphs as well as recognising increased sight vocabulary. Children continue to develop their comprehension skills, making simple inferences and talking about their likes and dislikes.
In KS2, our children are encouraged to read widely and discuss their preferences with some details, also acknowledging their favourite genres and authors. They continue to develop their fluency, reading at increased speed and develop such skills as scanning. In comprehension, children are expected to answer questions concisely, backing up their ideas with evidence from the texts.
Throughout their time at St Vincent's, children will experience reading individually, in pairs, small groups and as a whole class. Children are also given plenty of opportunities to read to themselves and have access to a well-stocked library.
Spellings are taught following the guidance in the National Curriculum. They are taught through the Little Wandle phonics programme in EYFS and KS1 and in Years 2 - 6 we follow the Twinkl spelling scheme.
We have high expectations for presentation and handwriting at St Vincent's. Handwriting is taught discreetly with the expectation that all writing is our best. We follow the Nelson handwriting scheme throughout the age-range and encourage the use of pen for those children who are ready, from Year 2 onwards.
