English
English at St Agnes
Our Vision
Through our English curriculum, we aim to inspire a love and understanding of story and factual reading and writing whilst also developing the comprehension skills and writing aptitude needed to support success in future key stages and life.
Pupils at St Agnes will be equipped with vital life-long communicative skills. Through their written and spoken communication, leaners will be encouraged to present and express themselves to the highest standard possible; proud of their pen ship and speaking in Standard English. We will inspire a love and understanding of story and factual reading and writing that carries our children through to improve their future life chances.
We aim that by the end of their time at St Agnes pupils will:
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- 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 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
- Be competent in the arts of speaking and listening, including making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
Writing
We aim to inspire lifelong writers. By enabling pupils to engage in writing for enjoyment, while also equipping them with the physical transcription tools needed to succeed.
We aim to provide a variety of immersive and inspiring experiences for the which enhance the children’s awareness of purpose and audience for writing tasks.
We also provide the pupils with real-life writing opportunities that provide authentic purpose and reason for the task. These include: invites to special events, applications for Blue Peter badges, letters to their favourite authors and writing competitions and projects, both internally and nationally, such as the Radio 2 500 words competition.
Reading and our Core Texts
The core text is central to the children’s English learning. All core texts are chosen to enhance and link with other topics pupils encounter. By linking texts with learning in other subjects (mainly Humanities or Science), children are given many opportunities to revisit, apply and explore rich subject-specific vocabulary and deepen their understanding of the themes within a topic. We are guided and inspired by recommendations from CLPE core books; Power of Reading teaching sequences; Love to Read teaching sequences written by Cornerstones; and Pie Corbett’s Core Books reading spine.
Each week, children are taught their Words of the Week. These words are directly linked to the core text, helping them make meaningful connections between new vocabulary and real contexts. This increases the likelihood that the vocabulary will be learnt and applied in their own writing.
Our aim is to inspire a love of story and factual reading that carries our children through to improve their future life chances, ensuring they have the comprehension skills needed to support success in future Key Stages.
Texts are chosen which allow children:
- Be exposed to challenging and stimulating vocabulary.
- Put themselves inside the story; empathise with characters and their issues and dilemmas; use texts as a stimulus for their own descriptive and story writing and simple non-fiction text types.
- Develop understanding of plot and character development and explore emotional responses to themes and events in narrative fiction.
- .Experience thought-provoking, carefully crafted texts, with well-drawn characters and settings, offering young readers strong models for their own writing, debate and structure.
- Access significant authors to grow and nurture their love for reading.
Adaptations
In our English lessons, we believe that every pupil should feel confident, supported and challenged. We recognise that children learn in different ways and at different speeds, and we carefully adapt our teaching to ensure that all learners can access and enjoy the English curriculum.
Lessons are planned with clear learning objectives and success criteria, which are shared and discussed with pupils so they understand what they are working towards. Teachers use a range of teaching approaches, including modelling, discussion, visual prompts and practical activities, to support different learning styles. Vocabulary is explicitly taught and revisited, helping pupils to develop strong language skills and deepen their understanding of texts. Widgit symbols are also used to aid language development.
We adapt tasks to meet individual needs. This may include scaffolded writing frames, sentence starters, word banks or guided group work for pupils who need additional support. Furthermore, Colourful Semantics is used to support sentence construction, language development and understanding for pupils who would benefit from this additional provision. More confident learners are challenged through extended tasks, higher-order questioning and opportunities to write independently and creatively. Teachers carefully adjust the level of challenge to ensure all pupils make progress.
Assessment
Assessment is ongoing and used effectively to inform planning. Teachers provide clear, constructive feedback so pupils understand their next steps and feel motivated to improve. By creating an inclusive, supportive and stimulating learning environment, we ensure that all pupils can develop their reading, writing and communication skills and grow in confidence as English learners.
