English

At Fens we believe that literacy skills are of fundamental importance, not only to success in all areas of the curriculum, but also that they open up to our pupils a whole world of experiences and enjoyment.

As they progress through school, children learn to become confident speakers and effective listeners. They learn to read with accuracy and understanding for information and enjoyment and they learn to write for a variety of different audiences and purposes with increasing confidence and precision.

Our English Curriculum

Intent

A high quality English education provides a foundation for pupils to:

• access the wider whole curriculum;
• communicate their ideas and emotions to others;
• develop culturally, emotionally, spiritually and socially; literature plays a key role in this development.

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

We aim to ensure that all pupils:

• 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 to 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
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
• To strive to be an ‘Evidence Informed’ school, taking into account the important role different forms of evidence can play in improving our school English curriculum through informing decision making and implementation practices that continually work to improve the outcomes of teaching and learning.

Implementation

In order to achieve this goal, we will:

• Engage with a wide range of research, related to both English and wider teaching and learning
• Explore areas of school practice that can be improved and clearly define them for all school stakeholders
• Prepare clear school development plans that outline how implementation activities and resources will be deployed to meet the intended outcomes
• Deliver and Adapt implementation strategies, monitoring their effectiveness through developed school systems and a flexible and collaborative peer-to-peer approach to school improvement
• Sustain and scale successful implementation practices to ensure they are embedded.
• Develop children’s awareness of their ability to self-regulate and think about their learning by sustaining and promoting the school’s metacognition agenda, in order to develop metacognitive strategies in conjunction with building a progressive understanding of English concepts.

English is taught through daily lessons and the skills and understanding are practised and applied across the whole curriculum.

Impact

Assessment and Monitoring (Including Assessment for Learning through verbal and written feedback)

• Assessment is part of the school’s self-evaluation process. It is based on the appropriate levels of attainment and is linked to learning objectives and learning outcomes. It is carried out to monitor pupils’ progress and achievements and ensure that individual pupil needs are being met.
• Ongoing assessments inform weekly planning and individual lesson delivery. Teachers regularly offer children timely feedback both verbally and through written marking.
  • Teacher Questioning and pupil-teacher classroom dialogue is used as an integral element of assessment. Teaching staff will adapt their curriculum to the needs of all children based on the ongoing feedback this process provides.
  • Marking is to be against clearly set lesson objectives that the children’s title will relate to.
  • Children of all ability groups should be challenged through marking.
  • Teachers should ensure children respond to their feedback when asked to do so.
• Year group/ phase teams should moderate their judgements to ensure consistency.
• Summative assessments include termly use of the Fens Attainment Outcomes to benchmark progress in Reading and Writing.
• At the end of Reception, children complete the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). The profile summarises and describes pupil attainment at the end of the early years foundation stage. EYFSP data is published at national and local authority level. Individual pupil data is used to understand individual education and development needs and to support transition to year 1. 
• At the end of Year 1, children are screened for their phonic attainment and an individual plan for each child not meeting the standard is put in place.
• At the end of Key Stage 1 statutory teacher assessments of children’s progress in Reading and Writing are made.
• At the end of Key Stage 2 statutory teacher assessments of children’s progress in Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing are made. In addition, children complete statutory tests in Reading and in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.

The English Subject Leader monitors the planning and assessments. School needs for staff development, resources and assessment monitoring are linked in to the School Self-Evaluation timetable as part of the whole School Development Plan.

Class teachers report on pupils’ progress and attainment at parental consultations each term, as well as in their annual report to parents.