English 

Intent

At Bishop Aldhelm’s we aspire to enable all children to communicate though the written form for a variety of purposes across the curriculum. We believe that all children, should have the opportunity to acquire a rich and varied vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and effectively use the spelling patterns and rules learnt to spell new words. We endeavour for our children to write clearly, accurately and coherently; adapting their style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. At the forefront for all staff, is the drive for children to enjoy the writing process and understand its importance and value.  

Implementation

When the children start their journey at Bishop Aldhelm’s, the teaching in EYFS focusses heavily on building speaking and listening skills, being aware of children’s starting points and providing a solid foundation in which they are able to build their English skills, that follow, upon. When children start in Key Stage One, they are introduced to new GPCs and focus on conveying meaning through secure sentence structure and link these to develop simple narratives and non-fiction recounts. As children continue through Key Stage One and into Key Stage Two, they focus on honing their skills with composition, spelling, punctuation and grammar writing for a range of purposes and audiences.  

At Bishop Aldhelm’s, we value the importance of vocabulary and plan in time for exploring the meaning and acquiring of new and ambitious vocabulary. Learning journeys of writing are planned around a high-quality text or stimulus, ensuring vocabulary and discussion around it is of focus.  We believe by children taking ownership of their writing through editing, redrafting and publishing their work, we are instilling resilience, courage and independence that are skills they will use throughout their education and beyond.   

To make sure we provide this for our children, our reading curriculum ensures:   

  • Handwriting is taught through the Letterjoin scheme and is started from the beginning of reception and continued through into year 6. 
  • Spelling is taught through Essential Letters and Sounds phonics scheme from the beginning of reception through to the end of Key Stage One. It is then continued into Key Stage Two, from year 3 to year 6, and taught through the follow-on programme, Essential Spelling and Work Knowledge.
  • The writing learning journey, will ensure children are taught and have the time to practise and revise key grammatical skills, at their writing ability before planning, drafting and revising their written work.  
  • In Key stage one, children are given the opportunity to write both fiction and non-fiction. 
  • In Key Stage Two, children are given the opportunity to write for purpose and consider their audience. 
  • Adults across the school, model handwriting, spelling and grammatically correct sentence structure across the curriculum.

Impact

The impact of the Reading curriculum at Bishop Aldhelm’s can be seen through: 

  • Our children’s enjoyment of writing.  
  • The quality of writing within the children’s books, across all areas of the curriculum. 
  • Our children’s ability to write for a range of purposes, across a range of genres, both fiction and non-fiction based.
  • Our children’s ability to select and use vocabulary to excite, inform or entertain the reader. 
  • Our children’s understanding and use of a range of punctuation, knowing the effect it can have on the reader in both writing and reading. 
  • Our children’s understanding and use of the various sentence types that can be used to support different genres. 
  • Our children’s ability to use phonetic knowledge and spelling rules to spell words accurately. 
  • Our children’s ability to speak clearly, fluently and coherently; to be able to listen attentively with understanding, pleasure and empathy and contribute to group discussions effectively. 
  • The percentage of children working at Expected level or greater across the school.