English Curriculum Intent
At Aspire we are dedicated to teaching our pupils to become competent readers and writers, to develop a love for reading, a passion for discovery, and a confidence to explore their imagination and be able to show this in their writing.
Our intent is for all pupils to develop an expertise in reading, writing and spoken language. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop vital comprehension skills. 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. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum, always learning and remembering more. Our practice is underpinned by our commitment to the inclusion of all pupils ensuring they are given opportunities to develop their knowledge, understanding and use of spoken and written English, regardless of their starting point.
English Curriculum Implementation
We will support all children to learn to read through clear leadership; consistent teaching and learning approaches supported by regular monitoring and assessment. Teachers, with support from the English Lead and Senior Leadership Team, draw upon careful observations and continuous assessment (every half term) to ensure children are challenged and to identify children who may need additional support or further challenge.
Pupils at Aspire access the English lessons appropriate to their current stage of learning, regardless of their age. This enables them to build confidence and feel free to take risks in their learning alongside peers who are at the same stage as them. Our pupils want to become confident, independent writers and readers, and so work hard to make progress and show enthusiasm in their lessons.
At Aspire, the systematic teaching of phonics is a high priority for all pupils. We use the validated synthetic phonics scheme, Read Write Inc. (RWI) phonics, to teach our pupils to read and write. This scheme covers the National Curriculum objectives for Key stage 1. We make sure that our pupils can confidently read the last set of phonics stories before they progress onto the Read Write Inc. Literacy & Language scheme, which covers the National Curriculum skills from Year 2 to Year 6. These Read Write Inc. lessons take place 4 times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Every Tuesday, our pupils have their English lesson in the school library. This is an opportunity to explore a love of reading, sharing texts as a class, making recommendations to peers and reading 1:1 with adults. In these sessions, they have the opportunity to enjoy a range of different genres and develop a love of reading. Each child leaves the library with a book to read or share at home.
All children read aloud during phonics and read at least once more per week with a teacher or teaching assistant using books that closely match their phonic/reading ability. Pupils making below expected progress are also targeted for additional one-one reading time.
Beyond our RWI schemes, pupils have opportunities to apply their reading, writing and spoken language skills in a range of contexts, exploring real life experiences and topic-based learning through a range of high-quality texts, regular ‘Big Write’ days and our engaging foundation curriculum. We aim to make our writing opportunities exciting and relevant to our pupils, giving them an opportunity to make links between different skills, contexts and consider the use of writing beyond a classroom.
Pupils are further supported to develop a love of reading and writing through our ongoing celebration of their work: colourful and eye-catching corridor displays showcase their writing and exploration of authors & texts; classroom working walls support pupils with their current learning displaying the appropriate speed sounds chart, word of the week, writing toolkit and, where appropriate, key vocabulary; certificates are awarded in celebration assemblies for achievements in English learning. Pupils are assessed on a termly basis for reading and writing, and half-termly in phonics. Pupil progress meetings are then held termly to identify pupils who have not made the expected progress and targeted interventions are then put in place.
This year's classes are named after famous poets and this has helped in raising the profile of poetry around the school. Pupils began the year learning about their named poet and being able to recite some of their poems. This has given the pupils an interest in poetry and an enthusiasm to learn more.
English Curriculum Impact
The intended impact of the English curriculum is that:
in reading, children will:
- Read fluently, demonstrating confidence and understanding
- Read for pleasure and enjoyment
- Demonstrate a broad and adventurous vocabulary and show an interest in words and their meanings
- Express their ideas, views and opinions about a wide range of topics and texts
in writing, children will be able to:
- Use a range of effective spelling strategies, including phonetically plausible attempts at unknown words
- Apply their skills across a range of genres and be able to apply characteristic features of texts to their own writing
- Have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
- Use technical and rich vocabulary
- Apply appropriate grammatical features
- Write at length to explore and develop their own ideas
- Demonstrate their creativity and imagination within writing
- Use a clear, legible handwriting style that promotes fluency and secures high standards of presentation
As a result of our ambitious English curriculum and our consistent delivery of outstanding English teaching, pupils at Aspire will learn more and remember more. We expect our pupils to make at least one year’s academic progress per school year from their starting point. All pupils are expected to achieve or exceed this expectation.
English Scheme of Work & Progression of Skills