Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin

 

Intent:

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The overarching aim at Glade Primary School for teaching English is to develop our children’s love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment and to promote high standards of language and literacy, by equipping pupils with a strong command of the written word.

 

Our curriculum unites the important skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening, discussion and reflection. Through reading in particular, our children have an opportunity to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.

 

At Glade, our English curriculum is designed to:

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• Build on the children’s prior knowledge by developing their skills progressively

• Enable our children to access a wide range of books by diverse authors so all children feel represented. This includes providing engaging learning experiences and developing cultural capital

• Teach our children to independently draw upon their wider reading, acquire a wide range of sophisticated vocabulary and gain a deep understanding of grammar, along with the knowledge of writing

• To develop interpersonal skills to prepare our children for life after school and tackle social disadvantage

• Enable children to become creative and critical thinkers, in order to develop their pupil voice

• Promote our curriculum drivers: well-being, creativity and global citizenship.

 

 

Implementation:

English is taught every day across the school. At Glade, we ensure that we provide a challenging and ambitious curriculum for all, using the objectives from the National Curriculum (2014).  This is reflected in the core texts that we choose and specified on our long term planning, ensuring that the books/ film units chosen are diverse, inclusive and reflective of our cohort. These are reviewed regularly to ensure the needs of the children are met.

 

Following on from this, the objectives are fed into ‘The Glade English Curriculum’ assessment target cards, which outline the subject overview/expectations for each year group. From this, a medium term plan is created, which outlines each strand of English. There is always a specific focus on the audience and purpose for writing, along with each aspect of the writing process – ensuring that the medium-term plan is fully linked to the reading and writing expectations of the National Curriculum. This is exceptionally important to us, as it gives teachers a basis for short-term planning. 

 

The short-term weekly planning enables teachers to develop their subject knowledge and allows them to teach a series of lessons that takes the pupils on a learning journey, interweaving reading with writing - tailor-made to specific and individual needs.

 

To support our pupils in developing as fluent readers that have a love of literature, we regularly review the literature available ensuring that it is age-appropriate, language-rich and links to the wider curriculum, where possible.

 

During English lessons, children will engage in:

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• Practical activities.

• Learning by questions

• Discussion using appropriate vocabulary

• Consolidation of basic skills

• Application into cross-curricular objectives.

 

At Glade, we promote learning outside the classroom, making effective use of all our additional spaces. This encourages a range of extra activities to promote literacy within the school and enhance the learning process. Events include, but are not limited to: World Book Day, National Poetry Day, author visits and inviting our real audiences in, where possible. These visits and workshops also promote diversity and inclusivity, linked to our work on British values, UN rights and Global Goals.

 

 

Impact:

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With the design of our English curriculum, our children at Glade:

• Develop a strong pupil voice (Article 12 UNRC) with the ability to articulate their ideas clearly, regardless of background

• Have a real love of literature and independently read for pleasure

• Enjoy writing for different purposes and a range of audiences, using their reading to inform their writing

• Produce a wealth of writing and establish strong identities as writers, where writing becomes a lifelong pursuit. This has had a positive impact on attainment in national assessments, in comparison to local and national data by the time our pupils leave Glade, at the end of key stage 2.