English

English

At St Joseph's, we offer our children a vast range of text types and writing opportunities so our children leave being able to read, write and speak fluently.  We have carefully curated our school reading spine to pick texts, which inspire the children's learning and give them plenty of creative opportunities; discussion points and help them to learn about the world all around them. 

Reading

Learning to read fluently and expressively is a fundamental part of everything we do at St Joseph's. Children are exposed to high quality texts across the curriculum and reading skills are taught explicitly in all year groups. Alongside the skills of decoding and comprehension, book talk encourages children to think as a reader and discuss their preferences, likes and dislikes. Reading for pleasure is a cornerstone of our approach. The high profile of reading in school is further enhanced by the use of the Accelerated Reading platform which has significantly changed the culture of reading for our children. The children are motivated and keen to read. In KS1 and Foundation, the teaching of reading is supported by Read, Write Inc. a systematic, synthetic phonics programme, which is having a significant impact upon the progress of our children.

Writing 

Learning how to write clearly and creatively is taught through a mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.  

You will find the end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the attached documents. For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a termly basis, please contact your class teacher.

 

At St Joseph's, we strive to equip children to develop a rich vocabulary, which can help them bring their writing to life. Basic skills and non-negotiables underpin writing in all areas of the curriculum. Children are encouraged to ensure that all their writing, in every subject, matches the standard of writing in their English books.

 

Pupils develop their ability to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write.  They are encouraged to discuss their ideas in order to make sense of their learning. 

 

Teachers model the writing process and demonstrate the ambitious high standards expected of all children. Every child is encouraged to let their imagination and personality shine through in their writing. We impress upon the children that good readers make good writers and therefore the teaching of reading goes hand in hand with the teaching of writing.

Grammar and Punctuation 

KS1 and KS2 follow a progressive scheme of work provided by Classroom Secrets, which equip children with all the technical terminology and functions of grammar and punctuation across each year's curriculum.  Each year starts with a recap on last year's curriculum to further embed those key skills. 

 

Spelling 

Children are taught a spelling rule explicitly each week and have an opportunity to explore rules and patterns in words.  We use the Spelling Shed website and app as a resource to support learning at home and at school. 

Vocabulary 

As a school, we truly understand the importance of closing the vocabulary gap for our children. We encourage children to be vocabulary explorers and to look for new interesting words in all they see and hear.  We unpick words in the context of the sentence and try to make connections with other words we know.  All adults at school model ambitious vocabulary in their work with the children.  We carefully plan which tier 2 and 3 words we will use across all parts of the curriculum.  All classrooms have vocabulary walls where we collect sophisticated language choices to further inspire our speech and writing. 

 

 

Speaking and Listening

Throughout the school, opportunities to develop pupil's spoken language in a range of contexts underpins the development of their reading and writing skills. Pupils are encouraged to speak clearly, confidently and with expression in order to communicate their ideas and feelings. They are taught to understand and use the conventions for discussion and debate.  All adults across school model the importance of speaking with Standard English.