As a school, we recognise that sound Literacy skills are essential for progress across all areas of the curriculum and to enable students to achieve their potential.

The impact of our English curriculum aims to ensure that pupils will leave SSMJ school:

  • reading and writing with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies to take responsibility for their own learning including self-monitoring and correcting their own errors;
  • with a love of reading and a desire to read for both enjoyment and information;
  • with an interest in words and their meanings; developing a growing vocabulary in relation to grammatical terminology;
  • understanding a range of text types, media types and genres;
  • able to write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation;
  • using their developing creativity, imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness;
  • having a suitable technical vocabulary to respectfully articulate their responses in any discussion.

The overarching intent of English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of Literacy, equipping pupils with a strong command of the written and spoken word and developing their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

All teachers at SSMJ have a responsibility to develop pupils’ competence in reading, writing and speaking and listening to ensure that pupils become competent users of language and can achieve their potential.

The development of literacy skills and knowledge will be implemented according to the following guidelines;

  • Pupils will receive daily English lessons following National Curriculum guidelines.
  • Staff will follow whole school policies on English and marking.
  • Pupils highlighted as not making sufficient progress will be highlighted and receive appropriate intervention support as highlighted within the school provision map.
  • Opportunities will be given across a broad and balanced curriculum to allow for opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills in all curriculum areas.

We use a variety of contexts for learning as appropriate;

  • Whole-class/group shared and guided writing
  • Whole-class/group reading skills lessons
  • Phonics lessons
  • Targeted intervention for children within sets and class-based groups.

Teaching approaches, whilst being referenced to the National Curriculum, are developed by individuals to suit their own classes’ needs and abilities. The following generic strategies are seen as particularly effective;

Sharing lesson objectives, success criteria, targets and outcomes with children during lessons.

  • Demonstrating and modelling
  • Explanation
  • Questioning
  • Discussion – (Talk partners, group activities)
  • Taking roles, including “teacher in role”
  • Encouraging review and editing through read and respond tasks and self-assessment and peer marking.

Our aim is to ensure that learners are engaged in their English lessons with activities that are:

  • Interactive and interesting
  • Appropriate and adapted according to ability/age related expectations
  • Planned with purpose and audience in mind
  • Varied and tightly timed and include opportunities for thinking and discussing.
  • Planned and developed over a number of sessions, so that each genre is explored well and built upon progressively.
  • Based around a whole ‘good quality’ text or visual literacy stimulus as well as model extracts.

Reading

Our vision for Reading

At SSMJ we believe that reading is an integral part of our school curriculum and a fundamental life skill that impacts on the acquisition of all knowledge. Reading is prioritised as we recognise that it is the core skill to everything that children do, thus meaning that everything else depends on it. Our aim is to ensure that children learn to read rapidly, regardless of their background. We want every child to develop a habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information and have the desire to want to learn to read for themselves with a view to becoming lifelong readers. With this in mind, we aim to inspire a true love of reading, whereby our children are enthusiastic, fluent and motivated readers who feel confident about talking about books and authors.

Intention

At SSMJ, we have planned a bespoke reading curriculum whereby all classes are exposed to a wide variety of differentiated reading materials and high-quality texts across a range of genres, thus allowing children to become competent and confident readers.

We pride ourselves on the rich learning experiences we offer our children, and we work tirelessly to ensure our children have access to a high-quality reading curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable for all readers.

Through quality first teaching, we teach our children to be inquisitive, thought provoking readers, which allows them to enjoy asking questions about the texts they are reading, and, at the same time, gain a deeper understanding of what they have read.

In years 1- 6, we follow a reading cycle programme which includes a combination of teacher-led work, pupil led activities, comprehension activities and independent reading. Throughout these carefully planned lessons, all children have access to the same book, vocabulary and discussion, and are given the opportunity to work alongside their peers to enhance their reading skills further.

In Key Stage One and Two, we have a skills-based approach to reading using the VIPERS as a set of skills:

  • Vocabulary
  • Inference
  • Prediction
  • Explain
  • Retrieve
  • Summarise

Each of our classrooms have reading areas to encourage reading. Our reading corners include a range of high-quality texts and novels, as well as topic focus texts to support reading in the wider curriculum.

Children are given daily opportunities to read a variety of materials in school, whether this be in lesson time, lunch time, or reading regularly with an adult. As well as children reading daily, we also recognise the importance of children being ‘read to’ and having the opportunity to be able to sit and listen to a ‘storyteller’.

With this in mind, staff read daily to the children and use this opportunity to show their passion about books and read some of their favourite novels while getting into character using intonation and expression. Reading to the children is also a great opportunity to demonstrate and develop fluency.

We are committed to providing quality, vocabulary-rich reading material, which immerses and enhances all pupils’ wider knowledge of the spoken and written word, through modern and classic children’s literature and non-fiction texts. We also consider the cultural background, gender and any special needs, both in our teaching attitudes and in the published materials we use with our pupils.

Impact

Pupils thoroughly enjoy reading and know that we focus on a range of reading skills (Vipers) and can use their language associated with these skills when explaining what they are learning.

Our phonics results show that our pupils achieve a standard that is very close to the national average. By the end of Key Stage 2, our progress in reading is demonstrating above national figures.

Our robust assessment approach means that we can track pupil progress and attainment regularly. It is evident from our increasingly good results across school that our bespoke, innovative reading curriculum, including the RWI programme, has created a community of enthusiastic readers who are confident and fluent with a hungry appetite to read more.

Reading in EYFS

In EYFS, we promote early reading in children as they start school as we believe this underpins their natural curiosity of storytelling and enjoyment of stories. We begin to teach individual phonemes during daily phonic sessions, as well as how to segment and blend sounds in words to read them. Within every area of provision in the reception classroom, children are exposed to a wealth of rich reading opportunities. Within the early years’ environment, we also embed sound recognition and provide ample opportunities for the children to apply their learning within their play, both independently and adult led.

In addition, we develop an awareness of rhyme, alliteration and oral sound blending through engaging children in various daily activities. In Reception, we instil a love of reading with various stories that can be shared with the children.

Like KS1 and KS2, every term, Reception focus on a high-quality text and we provide opportunities for the children to sequence, retell and use role play to develop their imagination and own ideas of storytelling.

We recognise the importance of parental engagement and children reading at home with their families, therefore during the first few weeks of Reception, all parents are invited to attend ‘An Introduction to Phonics’ workshop whereby they are given an overview of the expectations of reading at SSMJ.

This includes an insight into what a daily lesson looks like, how physical phonics can be implemented at home, and what our home reading books entail. To conclude the workshop, all our families are provided with a RWI phonics pack to ensure children are given the opportunity to continue to rehearse, consolidate and apply their phonic knowledge at home.

Home Reading

Every child is given a home reading book that they can take home and enjoy in their own time. We encourage all children to read at least four times a week, though many children exceed this. Our expectation is that a family member listens to their child read their book and makes a comment in their child’s school diary.

In Reception and KS1, all children are given a decodable reading book which is carefully matched to the phonic level they are working at. The books vary in several ways, including layout, size, vocabulary and length – this ensures children are provided with a rich diet of literature. We feel it is a fundamental aspect that all children are given books matched directly to their phonic knowledge as this allows them to rehearse and consolidate previously taught sounds without being exposed to unfamiliar phonemes. In turn, this allows children to flourish in their reading and become confident, accurate and fluent readers, before moving on to more challenging texts of greater difficulty. After children have completed the RWI programme, they then move on to colour banded books.

In KS2, children receive a home reading book which is linked directly to their reading level. This is assessed regularly throughout each half term to ensure an appropriate level of challenge is provided, thus ensuring children continue to improve their reading skills, as well as fluency. Once children have progressed through each stage of book bands, they become ‘’free readers’ and begin to choose their own reading books, either from the wide selection of books we have to offer a book they choose from home. Again, this is carefully monitored by staff and parents to ensure appropriate challenge and progression of reading, but also to ensure a love of reading.

Writing

The impact of our English curriculum aims to ensure that pupils will leave SSMJ school:

  • reading and writing with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies to take responsibility for their own learning including self-monitoring and correcting their own errors;
  • with an interest in words and their meanings; developing a growing vocabulary in relation to grammatical terminology;
  • understanding a range of text types, media types and genres;
  • able to write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation;
  • using their developing creativity, imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness;
  • having a suitable technical vocabulary to respectfully articulate their responses in any discussion.

Our vision for writing

Curriculum vision: For all pupils to strive for excellence and achieve high standards across all subjects ensuring the needs of all the pupils are met. Every child is encouraged to develop their skills as a writer so they are able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through writing. We wish to enthuse our pupils to develop a love of both reading and writing so they are inspired to be successful readers and writers.

The writing progression map demonstrates the structure of the programme and the genres planned for which enthuses and ignites our children, developing them as individuals to ensure they make excellent progress from their starting points.

The intent of our writing curriculum is to:

  • enable our children to build on and acquire new substantive knowledge, be successful at the transcription aspects of writing – by progressively teaching all aspects of the writing curriculum: grammar, handwriting, spelling
  • develop the disciplinary knowledge of writing – how to be a writer and successfully compose and structure ideas – to edit, redraft, and craft writing for a range of purposes and audiences
  • follow the National Curriculum expectations for each year group – including aspects of formality and the control of standard English
  • deliver a curriculum accessible to all to enable children to know more and remember more, building upon their starting points
  • recognise that literature also plays a key role in supporting the children’s development – culturally, emotionally, socially and spiritually
  • make links across the curriculum – to write for different purposes and also to use writing to record and share ideas proficiently in all curriculum subjects

The writing curriculum is clearly sequenced to develop substantive knowledge. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary; a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school. We want them to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We believe that all pupils should be encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, in part by developing a good, joined, handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school. A clear, fluent and taught handwriting style is essential in developing early writing fluency.

The writing curriculum is clearly sequenced to develop disciplinary knowledge. We know that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement, and that of others, in all pieces of writing, editing their work effectively during and after the writing process.

We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both grammar, spelling and composition skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to support the skills being taught in school.

What do we want children to be able to do by the end of Year 6?

We follow the National Curriculum expectations for writing and expect that our pupils will have met or exceeded the expected standards for Year 6 pupils.

We expect our children to develop substantive knowledge in writing (transcription and composition) progressively as they move through school. Phonics is taught systematically from Reception, and this supports the development of phonological skills within spelling, as well as recognising and spelling key words. There are clear expectations set out in the curriculum for each year group, and targets set across school. By Year 6 we also expect our children to be able to evaluate and edit text and apply substantive knowledge to effectively write for a range of purposes. This is built into our writing curriculum and targets for the children.

How will this support the children in lifelong learning?

It is essential that by the end of their time at SSMJ in Year 6, our pupils can write with confidence, and write for a range of writing purposes, to use their knowledge and skills in any subject in their secondary education. It is also essential for us that our children have developed the knowledge of a range of genres, to write for entertainment as well as for information, and through this use a wide vocabulary which they can apply to all subjects. In this, reading and writing are intrinsically linked.

Implementation

How is the curriculum for writing organised and how do we teach it?

There is a clear and progressive long-term writing curriculum starting in EYFS, up to Year 6. This covers all the substantive knowledge in the National Curriculum, whilst extending the expectations of when concepts are introduced to give the children opportunities to hear new vocabulary, see different grammatical features modelled and understand certain concepts earlier. This ensures there is a cohesive language used by all staff across school, but also that there is clear progression in modelling and teaching across all classes.

The curriculum is organised into purposes for writing – to ensure continuity of teaching new knowledge and reinforcement of learning objectives through a half term.

Teachers promote writing with reading, and look for ways to inspire and motivate pupils so that they see themselves as ‘writers’. Teachers establish the purpose and audience for writing and make teaching objectives explicit to pupils so they know why they are studying a particular text type, the kind of writing activities they need to undertake and what the expected outcome will be.

Impact

How do we review learning in writing?

Writing in our school is progressive and is planned to meet the needs of all children.

Assessments are carried out regularly to ensure children are consolidating and learning new knowledge and applying these to writing for a range of purposes and contexts..If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making expected or more than expected progress.

Clear monitoring systems support evaluating writing, teaching and learning, outcomes, pupil and parent voice. These outcomes feed into action planning to continually evaluate and improve our teaching and learning in writing.

In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

  • Regular assessed pieces of writing (minimum of 2 a term)
  • Marking and feedback according to our policy
  • Moderation of writing across the MAC schools.
  • End of Key stage SATs results – Grammar and writing outcomes
  • Pupil conferencing about their writing
  • Lesson observations and feedback
  • CLL Team/SLT/Subject Lead book scrutiny and evaluating of progress
  • Monitoring the impact of Professional Development with staff
  • Governor Link visits and feedback, including meetings with Subject Lead

Organisation of the writing curriculum

Writing is split into two week cycles – the cycle follows a set structure which starts with emergence in a text type, talking about vocabulary and meaning, identification of the key features of the text type, skill lessons a shared/slow write, planning, writing and editing

The two week cycles focus on different purposes of writing to ensure that the children learn and build upon the skills necessary for each writing purpose

Coverage of writing purposes is mapped out in each year group and poetry has been included in all year groups

The cycle enables the children to learn, develop, practise and embed writing techniques, grammar and punctuation for each year group level

The framework includes all taught elements of speaking and listening, reading and writing – all of which are intrinsically linked:

  1. Using good reading models The first lesson of the cycle will involve getting to know the text through echo reading, discussion, role play, drama, speaking and listening.
    This then leads into a feature identification lesson, this may be a deconstruction of the text, a wagoll bingo, highlighting
  2. Skill lessons will have an element of teaching, moving into guided practice and independent application of the particular skill (explicitly taught elements of grammar, language and text structure)
  3. Slow write lessons involve the children maybe completing a shared write focusing on key sentence types and then independent application, this is a practice of the key elements that will be required in the final piece of writing
  4. Planning lesson – staff guide the children through the planning process, making them think about each section/paragraph of writing, thinking about vocabulary, openers, punctuation, connectives, sentence types
  5. Writing and editing lessons will involve the children writing a particular piece for the writing purpose, this is a showcase of the skills they have been practising during this cycle but also other cycles too. Children are given a success criterion of the elements that will be marked against, this includes a focus on the Brilliant Basics
  6. Extended write (final draft).