English
Intent
At Limpsfield C.E. Infant School, we believe that language and literacy are fundamental to the overall development of a child throughout the curriculum and in life. We place a diverse range of high quality texts at the centre of our English curriculum to provide a rich context for children’s learning, and to give a deep and widened knowledge of themselves and the world they live in. We take pride in immersing pupils in learning that is memorable, engaging and with a clear purpose.
Our English curriculum enables pupils to acquire and develop the knowledge, skills and vocabulary they need to be independent successful readers and writers, whilst also developing and nurturing a love of reading together as a community throughout our school.
Implementation
Writing
Our book based approach – with high quality literature at the heart – provides meaningful contexts through which all aspects of the English National curriculum are taught. In 2019, we embarked upon a whole school approach through the use of the Literacy Curriculum from the Literacy Tree. This is a holistic approach to curriculum delivery where teachers plan sequences of lessons where the requisite skills in spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar are embedded throughout the teaching sequence. The authentic writing opportunities, some short and some longer outcomes, promote engagement and place audience and purpose at the core so children are taught and then apply the skills learnt within a meaningful context. The approach incorporates pedagogy enabling staff to deliver the curriculum effectively at an appropriate pitch and ensuring entitlement for all. Immersion in literature promotes engagement and understanding and children have opportunities to apply skills on a regular basis for a range of audiences and purposes. This approach where whole texts are used for reading and complete texts are written, engenders both coherent and cohesive writing.
We want to instil in children a love of reading and promote widespread reading for enjoyment and to do this each year group studies a minimum of 10 texts in the school year. The books selected by the Literacy Tree ask more questions than they answer, support the teaching of the core Christian values and support the development of children’s critical thinking skills. This diet of literature includes classical pieces, poetry, significant authors, award winning authors and illustrators and aims to give every single child access to a rich reading experience.
We believe that all children benefit from a consistent approach to the teaching of handwriting during their time at Limpsfield. Children are taught to form their letters in a cursive script as they are introduced to each letter through our phonics program in Reception. Children are then provided opportunities to practise and improve their handwriting across all subjects on a daily basis.
Reading
Whilst the Literacy Curriculum planning sequences for writing provide opportunities for developing comprehension, we also have separate provision for the teaching of decoding and comprehension. Just as with writing where there is transcription and composition, teaching of reading aims to develop both decoding and reading comprehension. Children are supported to develop skills in understanding texts from Reception (through adults reading aloud and discussions about books) into Key Stage 1 where we very much promote children’s ability to respond to texts through direct and explicit instruction in whole class sessions. We use books that have been chosen by the Literacy Tree to supplement the core texts used within the writing curriculum.Children are provided with plenty of opportunity to build upon their reading skills developed in class through individual reading sessions and books to share at home. Children have two different types of individual reading books, they have a book bag book and a sharing book. The book bag books are fully decodable and match your child’s individual reading ability and phonic knowledge. Sharing books are books chosen for pleasure to share at home. They are aimed to develop a love of reading that spans beyond their time at Limpsfield.
Phonics
Phonics will be taught using a daily systematic approach using resources from Read, Write Inc. and in accordance with The National Curriculum (2014) and the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. Children are placed into groups depending on their phonetic knowledge and will work on phonemes identified through half termly assessments. In each lesson, children will listen to and practise saying the phoneme independently as well as blending the phoneme within words. The phonemes will be taught in order through 3 sets with children progressing through each set as appropriate to their phonological ability. The teaching of phonics will be supported through the use of set specific reading texts matched to children’s phonological ability.
Impact
Through our delivery of English across the school we expect to see our children develop into engaged and confident readers and writers who regularly read and write for their own enjoyment. They will have developed vital skills enabling them to read fluently and with confidence.
We expect children to develop into resilient, independent, enthusiastic and curious learners who are able to transfer their reading and writing skills to all areas of the curriculum.