English at Woodseaves

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Our Vision

Inspiring children to become resilient global citizens.

‘Start children on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it’
Proverbs 22:6

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Our Motto

Inspire             Respect           Achieve

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At Woodseaves Primary School we want to ‘Inspire children to become resilient global citizens.’ This is underpinned in the teaching of English where we want all children to be happy and enthusiastic learners; eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their potential. We firmly believe that the recipe for success is high quality first-wave teaching in English, which is central to the life of our happy, caring school where our children flourish.

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Intent – What we are trying to achieve?

Our principal aim is that children leave our school with a wide range of happy and rich memories in English formed through interesting and exciting experiences which may be linked where possible to the vehicles that enhance a child’s awareness of their own abilities and strengths as a learner; thus ensuring that children see learning in English as an ongoing process not a one-off event.

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• Children will meet the National Curriculum expectations in English, which will be taught by highly-qualified enthusiastic staff who will support children to develop mastery of concepts and inspire enthusiasm and interest in the subject.

• Opportunities will exist for children of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom.  This will allow them to enrich their knowledge in English.

• In English, children will develop the skills to read, write, speak and listen.

• Children will develop a real understanding and appreciation of the world learning from the best that has been developed and said, increasing their cultural capital.  They will be immersed in real texts and will read literature from a wide range of well-known authors and new up and coming authors. By reading a wide range of texts such as historical fiction, classic fiction, traditional tales, poetry, myths and legends they will be presented with high quality texts as a model their writing.

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Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practice?

English is taught individually but plays a key role in the achievement of the learning aims in other subjects.

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• High quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Spiral learning is a key focus of all formative and summative assessment with teachers using live marking in lessons in order to identify and address misconceptions early

• Read like a writer, write like a reader ethos is applied to the teaching of English with a clear focus on the purpose and impact of writing.

• Use of high-quality texts to teach the reading and adaptive teaching for children’s access to learning.

• A clear and consistent approach through analysis of high-quality texts, purposeful practice of punctuation and grammar, shared writing and independent practice including editing to develop children’s understanding of the purpose and impact of writing.

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Impact – What is the impact of our curriculum on the students?

Children at Woodseaves are happy and enthusiastic learners within English. They experience a wide-ranging number of learning challenges in English and know appropriate responses to them.

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• Children will achieve well in English, and talk enthusiastically about their learning and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education.

• Children are confident, resilient and actively engaged in the wider society.

• Fundamental British Values are evident in English and children understand how English can

       celebrate difference.

• Through wider reading in English, children will develop a love of reading for pleasure; expanding their minds and curiosity of the world in which we live. Through this exposure, children will produce work that is influenced by the best.

• Children will develop excellent phonic knowledge and skills which they apply to reading with fluency.

• Children will be supported to develop an extensive and rich vocabulary.

• Children will learn the skills to gain an excellent comprehension of texts.

• Children will develop a love of reading and the motivation to read for both study and for pleasure.

• Children will develop an extensive knowledge through having read a rich and varied range of texts.

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Implementation- How do we do it?

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Reading

In EYFS and Year One children develop their knowledge and understanding of phonics through small group teaching using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is supported through reading books which are fully decodable and matched to children’s phonological stage. Children in Year Two, who are able to decode texts and read with automaticity, move onto our reading scheme which is staged to ensure progression. We also develop a love of reading through supporting children in reading for pleasure using our in-class libraries are regularly updated as well as through regular 'book talk' and author studies. 

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In KS2, children further develop their comprehension skills through whole class reading and reading as writers. We use a range of ‘real’ high quality texts, and where appropriate, use these texts to support the teaching of writing. At Woodseaves, our children experience a reading journey which can follow the model of:

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1. Teacher modelled fluency lesson.

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2. Shared/paired/perform - focused pupil reading.

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3. Teacher modelling - the teacher will model to children how readers create mental models, for example modelling how skilled readers use ideas from the text and their own background knowledge to make links and form meaning.

 

4. Questioning to deepen thinking - promoting elaboration and flexible thinking that will support children to integrate new ideas into their existing knowledge and create schema. 

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5. Written questions - children have the opportunity to apply their learning in an increasingly independent manner. 

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Writing

At Woodseaves, we teach writing through writing like readers focusing on the purpose and impact on the reader. We analyse high quality texts and adapt the skills and techniques of grammar that successful authors use for our own writing. Each piece of writing is created through a 'learning journey' where children will apply the techniques and skills related to the outcome that has been taught through the learning journey. .

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Spelling

Spellings are taught as part of the phonics sessions in Reception and Year One, following the Little Wandle scheme. Our Year 2 pupils follow the Year 2 Little Wandle spelling scheme once they have completed Phase Five fully in the Autumn term. Key Stage Two pupils have frequent spelling sessions using National Curriculum spellings and Spelling Shed is used to support teaching and learning both in and out of school.

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