Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School English Policy June 2016 Approved by Govs: Review by Govs:
2 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy A high quality education in English will teach pupils to write and speak fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. National Primary Curriculum 2014 Our Overarching Aim: At Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School we firmly believe that English is a significant life skill and that the development of strong learning foundations will enable our children to listen, speak, read and write confidently throughout their school career and on into adult life. We believe that it is important to foster an enthusiasm for, and appreciation of, the different strands of English in a broad, cross-curricular and real-life sense at all stages throughout the school. Purpose To promote a shared love and understanding of literacy; To establish an entitlement for all pupils; To establish high expectations for teachers and pupils To promote continuity and coherence across the school. To state the school s approaches to this subject in order to promote public, and particularly parents and carers, understanding of the curriculum. Overview This policy consists of key paragraphs that explain how English is taught at Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School and appendices that give further guidance about: Handwriting RWI Spelling RWI Phonics Aims of Policy To encourage children to: be effective, competent communicators and good listeners; express opinions, articulate feelings and formulate responses to a range of texts both fiction and non-fiction using appropriate technical vocabulary; foster an interest in words and their meanings, and to develop a growing vocabulary in both spoken and written form; enjoy and engage with and understand a range of text types and genres; be able to write in a variety of styles and forms showing awareness of audience and purpose; develop powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness in all areas of literacy; use grammar and punctuation accurately; understand spelling conventions; Page 2
3 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy produce effective, well-presented written work. Expectations By the time children leave our school, we expect them, as far as they are able, to be primary literate pupils by demonstrating that they can communicate through speaking and listening, reading and writing, with confidence, fluency and understanding and in a range of situations. We want every child to take pleasure in reading across a range of genres and have a strong motivation to read for a variety of purposes. All children will be taught the statutory curriculum with the aim that they will master the age related expectations of each phase. As they work towards the expected standard, teachers will use a range of differentiation strategies in order to support learners according to their particular needs. More able children will need to demonstrate that they can work at greater depth using the English skills that they are mastering at each phase. Children considered to be working at greater depth will be able to apply their English skills confidently, accurately and effectively across a range of work. Time Allocation The time allocated for English is in line with recommendations for key stages one and two. In addition, it is expected that cross-curricular links will contribute to pupils effective learning in spoken language, reading and writing. This is reinforced through our delivery of the curriculum. Children will also benefit from regular story sessions. Teaching and Learning Planning The new National Curriculum 2014 forms the basis of teaching and learning. All children receive at least the minimum entitlement of a daily English lesson as well as weekly guided reading group sessions. Teachers work towards independent learning and plan for different working groups. Teachers employ a range of generic teaching strategies. - Writing Aims Children should learn to: write in different contexts and for different purposes and audiences be increasingly aware of the conventions of writing, including grammar, punctuation and spelling plan draft and edit their writing to suit the purpose use computer technology as a literacy medium for presenting work and manipulating text Page 3
4 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy form letters correctly, leading to a fluent joined and legible handwriting style, giving increasing regard to presentation The National Curriculum 2014 divides writing into the following headings: Transcription (spelling and handwriting), Composition and Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation. Please refer to the English Policy appendices for more details about the teaching and learning of spelling and handwriting at Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School which take place in addition to our literacy sessions. For Composition and Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation, teachers use the Babcock Devon LDP Literacy Teaching Sequences which follow The National Curriculum 2014 as a starting point for creating their medium term literacy plans. These medium term plans follow the five key aspects of literacy teaching: familiarisation with the genre and text type; capturing ideas; teacher demonstration; teacher scribing through supported and guided writing and finally, independent writing to create a teaching sequence. The length of a unit may vary. Teachers plan closely with year group colleagues to ensure consistency of opportunity for all children. This is used as a basis for short term planning and adapted according to the needs of the children. Clear objectives are set for each session and are shared with pupils. Teachers differentiate according to the needs of the pupils and use intervention programmes for targeted support. Teachers from Y1 to Y6 follow the Babcock No Nonsense Grammar Programme for the teaching and learning of grammar. Whilst this will be in addition to the main teaching sequence unit; continuous links will be made to reinforce the No- Nonsense Grammar philosophy that learning about grammar is learning about language and discovering how meaning is created through the choices we make. Reinforcing the message that grammar is a way of looking at how the English language works and the endless possibilities it gives us for making our communication powerful. - Reading Aims To enable children to: develop positive attitudes towards reading so that it is a pleasurable and meaningful activity; use reading skills as an integral part of learning throughout the curriculum; read and respond to a variety of texts whilst gaining increased level of fluency, accuracy, independence and understanding develop different strategies for approaching reading and be able to orchestrate the full range of strategies At Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School children begin their reading journey by following the Read, Write, Inc Phonics programme. (Please see separate policy.) Throughout Page 4
5 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy the school, they are welcomed into classrooms where reading for pleasure is promoted through a book area and a regular experience of story time takes place with an adult reading to them. Once children have completed the Read, Write, Inc Phonics programme they officially begin their Accelerated Reader journey. Please read the description of Accelerated Reader below. Reading transports curious minds to wondrous realms of the imagination. It determines success not only in the classroom, but in life. Highly popular and successful for over 25 years, Accelerated Reader (AR) is a powerful tool for monitoring and managing independent reading practise. AR has a student interface for ease of navigation and the ability to: Personalise and guide independent reading practice. Develop lifelong readers and learners. Tap into unlimited access to all quizzes and enjoy online support. Increase parental support with web-based, school-to-home communications. The 5 steps to reading success. It's all about practise. AR encourages substantial differentiated reading practise to create strong readers. Based on each student's independent reading level, AR helps teachers set personalised goals for each student, and guide students to books that are difficult enough to keep them challenged, but not so difficult as to cause frustration. In addition, AR helps teachers monitor students' vocabulary growth, literacy skills development, and other reading skills. 1. Determine reading level. First, a student s optimal reading level is determined through the STAR Reading Enterprise assessment. This assessment suggests a range of book levels for each student called the zone of proximal development, or ZPD. Children should begin reading books that have a level at the lower end of their zpd and gradually move up the range in order to make optimum progress. 2. Set practice goals. Teachers support children to set individualised reading practice goals based on reading quantity, quality, and difficulty and they can then monitor progress toward those goals. 3. Personalised practice. Personalised reading practice means students read books of interest at their own reading level. AR BookFinder makes it easy to find the perfect book. 4. Students take an AR Quiz. AR offers more than 150,000 quizzes of three types on both fiction and non-fiction titles. Students may take AR Quizzes on laptops and PCs during registration time. 5. Receive instant feedback. AR provides teachers with immediate information, helping them monitor the comprehension skills of each student and inform further instruction or intervention. Students and parents get instant feedback to help motivate success with the use of Renaissance Home Connect. https://ukhosted29.renlearn.co.uk/2236648/homeconnect/ Page 5
6 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy To optimise the impact of Accelerated Reader and maximise success, children should read for at least 20 minutes per day. Whilst children have the opportunity to read independently in school to fulfil some of this expectation, we also expect frequent reading at home. This should be recorded in their reading record which then provides a regular link between home and school, promoting good reading habits and shared expectations. Guided Reading In guided reading texts are chosen by the teacher so that they can target particular reading skills with each group. As well as having first-hand experience of each child s decoding skills; guided reading also provides the opportunity for children to demonstrate their inference, prediction, clarifying, questioning and summarising skills. The discussion that ensues during these sessions also encourages the children to talk about how language has been used for effect and the themes and conventions of the range of texts they encounter. Expectations for these skills will be determined by each phase of learning and the texts will be chosen to facilitate these skills. The nature of guided reading means that the children listen to eachothers views and the different opinions they may have about what has been read. This allows them to learn from each other and understand different perspectives; encouraging them to look for opportunities to justify their own thoughts based on their own experiences. - Spoken Language Aims Children need to be able to: Communicate effectively, speaking with increasing confidence, clarity and fluency Participate in discussions and debate in a variety of contexts Listen to the views, opinions and ideas of others with increased interest Articulate ideas and thoughts clearly with appropriate tone and vocabulary recognising audience Respond to questions and opinions appropriately Retell stories and poems which are known by heart Ask questions with increasing relevance and insight Active discussion and a focus on child talk takes place in all our taught sessions here at Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School. Through guided work teachers encourage children to enter into discussions through either agreeing and disagreeing and giving justification for this. Talk for Writing is an integral part of our teaching sequences where children learn to talk the texts they have been studying; this includes an element of Page 6
7 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy learning and remembering some of the text, Book Talk and Writer Talk. Debates are part of some teaching sequences and deep discussions also take part in our philosophy sessions. Each class holds a class assembly where children are all involved in presenting their current learning to an audience. Children are encouraged to listen reflectively during daily acts of collective worship and often have the opportunity to contribute their own thoughts. The S.M.S.C. (Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural) learning that is embedded In practice at Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School also gives many opportunities for the children to develop their spoken language. Speaking and listening is an integral part of their skill development at Forest School as well as during their Spanish lessons. All children are expected to demonstrate good manners equally to visitors and everyone in the school community. They are reminded that this is one of the ways that they can demonstrate both fundamental British values and our school Christian values as well as representing themselves as courteous individuals. In addition to this, various drama and choir productions happen throughout the year, both in school and at the church, which give participants a chance to shine. Literacy is encouraged and developed across our curriculum and links are made where appropriate. Computing skills are used where it enhances, extends and complements literacy teaching and learning. Additional adults may be used to support the teaching of literacy. They work under the guidance of the teacher with small groups of children or individuals. Inclusion We aim to provide multi-sensory English education for all children in school, irrespective of gender, ability or ethnicity, which fulfils the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and the National Curriculum 2014 for KS1 and KS2. All children receive quality first literacy teaching on a daily basis and activities are differentiated accordingly. In addition, where identified pupils are considered to require targeted support to enable them to work towards age appropriate objectives, intervention programmes will be implemented. Teachers and teaching assistants plan programmes together and monitor progress of these pupils. There will be a third wave of support for pupils who are placed on Learning Plans that will be additional and different. Pupils that are more able are actively encouraged and taught to demonstrate that they are working at greater depth with their ongoing acquisition of literacy skills. Assessment, Recording and Reporting Assessments and reporting arrangements are made in line with the school assessment policy. Page 7
8 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy Teachers use effective assessment for learning to ensure planning is based on prior attainment and that pupils know what they need to do to achieve the next steps. Group or individual targets are set accordingly. Marking is in line with the school marking and feedback policy. Analysis of assessment data is used to set targets. Where applicable, school issues are addressed through targets linked to Appraisal. Children are informed of their own targets for learning and supported to make progress towards them. Children are also involved in setting their own steps to success and encouraged to review their progress towards these through self, peer and teacher assessment. The teacher keeps records that enable them to deliver an effective, creative and relevant curriculum that builds on prior attainment and meets the needs of pupils. Staff Development The subject leader will attend Devon Curriculum Services area subject leaders meetings and other appropriate training courses. Training needs are identified as a result of whole school monitoring and evaluation, performance management and through induction programmes. These will be reflected in the School Development Plan. The English Leader will arrange for relevant advice and information, such as feedback from courses or newsletters, to be disseminated. Where necessary, the leader for English leads or organises school based training. Additional adults who are involved with intervention programmes will receive appropriate training that may be school based or part of additional training. Resources and Accommodation A comprehensive range of resources are available in school. Every class has a dedicated book area to promote reading for pleasure; as well as a selection of dictionaries and thesauruses. The school subscribes to the Devon Library Service so that each year group has access to books related to their current topics each term. Children also have access to our central school library with fiction and non-fiction books; most of which are organised according to their numerical range on the Accelerated Reader Programme. Guided reading books are kept in the school library and KS1 group area. Teacher resources are located in the PPA study room. Monitoring and Evaluation Page 8
9 Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School - English Policy The Head teacher, Deputy Head/Assessment Leader, Assistant Heads and the English Leaders monitor different aspects of English teaching and learning in line with the key priorities of the present School Development Plan. This will be in accordance with their relevant roles and responsibilities such as appraisal targets, performance of key groups, marking and feedback, quality of teaching, effective intervention provision etc. Subsequent priorities identified through the rigorous monitoring activities will lead to an action plan being constructed that may form part of the ongoing School Development Plan or form future targets. Monitoring timetables form part of the annual English action plans (Reading, Writing, SPAG and Phonics) that then become part of the School Development Plan. These identify when, who and what is to be monitored and how this will take place e.g. classroom observation, pupil progress meetings, work scrutiny, pupil conferencing etc. Review This policy will be reviewed according to the School Development Plan. Page 9