English Language Curriculum Policy
Language and Communication are at the heart of children’s learning. They are central to personal, social and emotional development and to learning across the curriculum. The ability to communicate gives children the capacity to participate fully in our society.
Many of our children are bilingual , and even trilingual, and we believe this to be educationally enriching. We differentiate our learning for native and non-native English speakers, but excepting Arabic lessons, all subjects are taught in English.
Language develops best in context, when there is a real reason to communicate. This affects our approach to the teaching and learning of literacy. We believe that children learn best when we start from whole language – a good story, an exciting science topic, an interesting role play area. Children who want to know what is in a book will become enthusiastic readers.
Children who want their readers to understand and enjoy what they have written, will express themselves clearly and imaginatively in writing. However, we also know that within this, children need regular practice in specific skills such as phonics. We aim to combine the best of many approaches to ensure that our children become literate.
Technology plays a vital role in the way we learn and communicate today and we believe that it should be integral to the teaching and learning of English. We want children to understand how digital media work and to use these to express themselves in language learning. Smartbaords and iPads are at the centre of preparing our children for the 21st Century.
As
Academic Staff, we give children time to communicate and we think about the way
we question them so they have the opportunity to think critically and express
themselves fully.
Key Principles Of Teaching And Learning
Children learn best when they participate in teaching and learning which helps them to:
Enjoy and achieve
- become independent, thoughtful learners
- understand how they learn and what helps them to learn
- become literate, numerate and creative
- achieve at the highest levels for their age and ability across the curriculum
- be curious, have enquiring minds and know how to ask appropriate questions
- express themselves clearly and listen well
- develop skills of thinking and talking together in their learning
- develop their creativity
- be motivated by their work and enjoy learning
- become technologically skilled and embrace new technologies
- set targets, review and evaluate their own learning and move forward
- work co-operatively with adults and children
Be healthy
- care for themselves and understand how to maintain a healthy lifestyle
- make choices based on available evidence and information
- know how to manage their own feelings and empathise with others
Stay Safe
- develop high self-esteem and value their own and others’ learning
- behave well and think about others’ well-being
- know and understand about risks, dangers and challenges
Make a positive contribution
- become responsible members of the school and wider community
- understand and care for the environment
- be confident in their own beliefs and develop a spiritual awareness
- develop moral values and respect for others’ beliefs, culture and heritage
Achieve economic well-being
- understand the society in which they live; know about roles and responsibilities
- understand about earning, spending and the world of work eg. people who help us
- be prepared for future opportunities
- make decisions about the future
Key Principles Of Teaching And Learning In English
Our children are given opportunities to learn the knowledge, skills and understanding set out in
- The Early Years Foundation Stage
- The National Curriculum
- the Primary Framework for Literacy (knowledge, skills and understanding)
- their learning is well planned for progress across the long, medium and short term (planning).
- they receive regular feedback on their progress and have opportunity to evaluate their learning (continuous , formative and summative assessment tracked termly).
- their learning environment is suitably organised (learning environment).
Key Principle: Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
- The National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum identify three main areas of knowledge, skills and understanding in English. These areas are inter-related and children learn about them in an integrated way.
- Speaking and listening;
- Reading;
- Writing.
The Early Years Foundation Stage and the Primary Framework for Literacy provide coverage for these areas through twelve strands. Children learn about these in an integrated way because literacy learning is most effective when it is part of a cohesive piece of work and not just a ‘one-off’.
- Speaking, listening and responding;
- Group discussion and interaction;
- Drama;
- Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling);
- Word structure and spelling;
- Understanding and interpreting texts;
- Engaging and responding to texts;
- Creating and shaping texts;
- Text structure and organisation;
- Sentence structure and punctuation;
- Presentation.
English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Many of our pupils are learning English as an additional language.
Bilingualism is an asset and planning for learners with English as an additional language is part of the planning process of the whole school. Teachers differentiate to address children’s various needs.
Pupils are also given the opportunity to learn Arabic. Some children are native speakers of this language.
Key Principle: Breadth of study
We believe children learn best in English when they have access to the breadth of study set out in the National Curriculum, The Early Years Foundation Stage and the Primary Framework for Literacy.
- All subjects of the curriculum are rich sources for learning new vocabulary and for developing speaking, listening, reading and writing.
- Well planned cross curricular teaching ensures that children are given real purposes and contexts in which to use and practise their English.
- Children are given the opportunity to learn the knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and listening through a wide range of activities, contexts and purposes.
- For example: having conversations;
- organising and clarifying thinking;
- telling stories;
- describing events and experiences;
- exploring;
- evaluating;
- presenting to different audiences;
- speaking to different people;
- making plans as a group;
- sharing ideas and experiences;
- creating roles;
- responding to performances.
- Children are given the opportunity to learn the knowledge, skills and understanding in reading through a wide range of good quality narrative, poetry and non-fiction texts. Our Library has 4,000 books (April 2014)
- They learn to decode texts and read for meaning through activities which give purpose to reading and promote comprehension.
- Children are given the opportunity to learn the knowledge, skills and understanding in writing through addressing a wide range of purposes, readers and forms of writing.
- Children learn that there are many reasons for writing, for example, to create imaginary worlds, to inform or remember.
- They learn that what they write is closely related to who they are writing it for.
- Children learn how to be writers by studying the techniques of the authors they encounter in narrative, poetry and non fiction.
Key Principle: Planning
We believe children learn best in English when their learning is well planned for progress across the long, medium and short term. Planning for English is based on the Early Years Foundation Stage, the Primary Framework for Literacy, and the National Curriculum
- Teachers plan to cover a balance of narrative and non fiction each term.
- Teachers plan to use a variety of teaching and learning styles in English lessons.
- Teachers start their planning from a thorough knowledge of the children’s existing literacy knowledge, skills and understanding.
- In the medium term, teachers plan a theme lasting from two to six weeks.
- Early Years
- EY teachers plan literacy learning intentions from the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and customise the activities to meet the children’s interest and needs on their weekly plans.
- KS1
- First they choose one of the text types identified in the Primary Framework for Literacy. They may choose a particular book or author. They link their choice to other areas of the curriculum where possible.
- Then, they identify the appropriate learning objectives across the 12 strands from the Framework.
- Next, they group these together into a cohesive unit of teaching starting from the chosen text or texts. They build a teaching sequence from reading into writing, developing comprehension at every stage.
- From this, teachers produce weekly plans with a learning objective for each day and differentiated activities to include different levels of attainment. These plans may be adapted daily in response to children’s progress.
- Training is provided, at regular intervals, for all staff to ensure good subject knowledge and understanding of approaches to teaching English.
Key Principle: Assessment
We believe children learn best in English when they receive regular feedback on their progress and have opportunity to evaluate their learning.
- Assessments in English are used to inform teaching and learning in a continuous cycle of planning, teaching and assessment.
- Samples of reading and writing are taken in the summer term. These are levelled according to the National Curriculum and targets are set with the children. The targets are revised throughout the year as children progress in their learning.
- In KS1, the Benchmark assessment is used to support the sampling of reading. This assessment gives the children a level which corresponds to a book band. Teachers can therefore select texts at the appropriate level for guided reading.
- Speaking and listening are assessed through observations in the spring and summer terms and children are given a National Curriculum level.
- Teachers share learning intentions and success criteria with children in each lesson.
Self-Assessment
Children are encouraged to assess their own progress by reflecting on their successes and identifying areas where they need more work.
- Marking within English is in line with the whole school marking policy and should take account of the shared success criteria.
- Children in the Early Years – When children are admitted into the Early Years’ Unit they are observed in a range of situations. Their skills in communication, language and literacy are assessed and this is the basis for their further learning. Samples of reading and writing are completed termly. This aids the setting of targets.
Key Principle: Learning Environment
We believe children learn best in English when their learning environment is suitably organised.
- We select books and other resources that are appropriate to the children in our school. They are chosen for their quality and take into account the Muslim setting.
- In Key Stage 1, guided readers are divided into fiction and non fiction and banded to help teachers select texts at the appropriate level.
- Children, parents and staff are encouraged to use the school library. Each library member has a unique barcode
- Every class has an attractive book area which offers a wide range of quality books to suit the needs of the children in that class. Book areas are well organised, clearly labelled and easily accessible.
Key Principle : Literacy – Phonics
Literacy is taught differently in each year group.
However our structured, fast paced phonics scheme is consistent throughout. We teach Phonics for the following reasons:
- Effective way to teach young children how to read
- Provides children with the tools for independent reading
- Improves reading pace and comprehension
- British Curriculum- Reading by Six
- Reading; First and Fast
Foundation Stage:
We use the new Early Years Foundation Stage Guidance material for our lesson objectives and goals alongside the Read, Write Inc. programme.
FS1
Children are not taught stand-alone Literacy lessons. “Communication and Language” and “Literacy” are taught within Topic sessions. Children learn through play, effective questioning and planned talk to enhance language acquisition and through well-planned, linked activities.
Writing– Teachers develop children’s fine motor skills through mark marking activities; following patterns, tracing, cutting, painting etc. Children are taught to write their name and practise letter formation using different tools and media.
Reading– Children are taught key book handling skills and stories are shared on a daily basis using big books and classroom stories. Listening and responding to stories is encouraged and a love for books is shared. Children take home a book of choice from the library to share at home following their 30-minute library session lead by the school librarian. In preparation for our Oxford Reading Tree home reading scheme, children are taught to identify the key characters from the texts. Children take home a weekly ‘wordless story’ to practise their book handling skills and are encouraged to retell stories using the illustrations.
Phonics– Organised phonic activities are planned twice weekly that are Teacher led and focus on a new sound that is taught using the RWI programme. Specific independent phonic activities are also planned and require children to sort objects by initial sounds. Teachers model how words are broken down into sounds by using ‘Fred talk’ throughout the day.
Speaking and Listening
In addition to the planned activities that develop children’s speaking and listening skills and the Role Play stations, Show and Tell opportunities are encouraged and Class assemblies provide children with an audience for which to perform.
FS2
Specific time is outlined on the timetable for Literacy lessons. Four out of the five daily lessons are taught using the RWI programme. The fifth literacy lesson is a topic based writing lesson.
Read, Write Inc. Lessons
One hour RWI lessons take place four times a week. All children are involved in a whole class, Speed Sound lesson in which they recap all known sounds and are taught to; recognise, read and write 2/3 new sounds a week. Children practise reading non phonetic, sight words known as Red words and practise reading phonetically decodable Green words containing known sounds. After the Speed Sound lesson, children are placed into ability groups and work in a focused group with either the Teacher or Teaching Assistant to complete reading, writing and handwriting activities that link to a given Ditty or Story. The groups then rotate on a daily basis ensuring both the Teacher and Teaching Assistant work with every child every week for both Reading and Writing. The children complete the planned writing activities in their Literacy books.
Reading
In addition to the group reading in RWI lessons, group guided reading happens weekly and children are given a differentiated reading book to share in school and to take home. The home reading books are a mix of fiction, non-fiction, phonetically decodable and non-phonetic texts, which are determined, based on ability. Reading comprehension and decoding objectives are set for reading sessions and sessions are logged as observational notes and in the children’s Reading diaries. Parent Reader sessions occur weekly and provide children with further opportunities to share a text with an adult. Children also attend a 30minute library session and take home a book of choice each week to share at home.
Writing
As well as RWI ‘hold a sentence’ and ‘complete a sentence’ activities which also address sentence structure, spelling and punctuation, children have a separate one hour writing lesson that links directly to their current topic and offers opportunities to use their taught skills independently. Children are introduced to different writing styles and write for different purposes such as letters, invitations, and fact files etc. Independent writing activities occur daily and are planned throughout topic sessions. Emergent writing in the Role-play area is encouraged and word banks and key words are displayed to support.
Speaking and Listening
- Role play
- Home corner
- Termly Class assemblies
- Weekly Show and Tell
FS Assessment
Children are regularly tracked using the schools tracking system and planning is adapted accordingly to ensure all children make good progress and pupils’ individual needs are targeted.
In addition to teacher assessments, in FS2 pupils are assessed using the online PIPS test that give a standardized score and ensures a measurable level inline with the British curriculum and a National (UK) average.
PIPS assessments are run in
association with CEM / Durham University (UK).
Key Stage One
In Year One, Teachers plan using the units from the Literacy Framework and also incorporate the RWI programme. The timetable changes throughout the year to incorporate more Phonic based teaching at the beginning of the year and allows for more extended writing opportunities later in the year;
Term One- 3 RWI lessons 2 Literacy lessons per week
Term Two- 2 RWI lessons 3 Literacy lessons per week
Term Three- 1 RWI lesson 4 Literacy lessons per week (one hour sessions)
RWI lessons are stand-alone Phonic lessons and incorporate; Sounds, spellings, spelling patterns and the reading and writing of both Green and Red words. Children are given a mix of both phonetic and non-phonetic spellings to practise and are tested weekly. Spellings are differentiated by ability into three groups.
Literacy unit objectives are taken from the Literacy Framework and taught using the current class topic. (See plans). Units are planned with a text stimulus and incorporate reading, comprehension, writing, punctuation and grammar and ensure coverage of all necessary text types and genres. Drama activities are used to encourage Speaking and Listening and develop understanding of characters. Wherever possible Literacy lessons make good cross-curricular links with Science and the Humanities and incorporate stories from other cultures including the UAE.
Handwriting
Separate weekly Handwriting lessons are planned on the timetable and when appropriate children are taught how to write using a joined up cursive script. Correct letter formation and good presentation is expected for every piece of work from every child.
Reading
Guided Reading occurs every day for every child in Year one. 6 differentiated groups led by Teachers and TAs for 30 minutes are rotated weekly and reading Homework and Comprehension tasks are set. A mix of fiction, non-fiction, and phonetically decodable and non-phonetic texts are used based on ability. Parent Reader sessions also provide further opportunities for children to read to an adult on a weekly basis. Children also attend a weekly 30 minute library session which allows the children to learn key library skills, develop their ICT skills and select a book of choice to share at home.
Speaking and Listening
- Drama activities; Literacy lessons
- Termly Class assemblies
- Weekly Show and Tell
Key Stage One Assessment
Half termly RWI assessments are used to track known sounds and inform planning.
Teachers consistently update and analyse literacy tracking to ensure good progress, to inform planning and target children’s individual needs.
Reading assessments made by Teachers and TAs are recorded in Reading diaries and school logbooks.
Half termly Writing assessments are used to level children’s writing using the Ros Wilson Criterion Scale and the APP writing level descriptors.
Teachers moderate marking together to ensure consistent, accurate levels.
