English encompasses spoken language, reading and writing.
At Holy Trinity Primary Academy and Nursery, we believe that spoken language is the foundation of this subject and we develop pupils’ spoken language using the principles outlined in the National Curriculum.
The National Curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.
To find out more about our approach to Reading at Holy Trinity, visit our Reading page:
English – Writing
We follow the ‘Pathways to Write’ programme for English. 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.
See the progression document below:
Intent
The aim of our English Curriculum is to enable our pupils to develop a love of language and learning that will last a lifetime; having the skills needed to communicate effectively will prepare them for life in our diverse and vibrant community and for life beyond Holy Trinity. Through our Christian Values, we aim to instil the learning behaviours needed to flourish and succeed. We recognise every child as unique and our curriculum is designed to be ambitious for all learners, providing rich learning opportunities, trips, visitors and a range of enrichment experiences. We intend to provide a language-rich learning environment for all of our pupils through our extensive range of quality texts, displays, reading areas, working walls, progression in language structures, drama, role play and adult modelling of spoken language.
Implementation
Writing at Holy Trinity is built around quality texts and meaningful real-life experiences. Book is the Hook’ is the bedrock of our writing. Pupils are immersed in a wide variety of quality texts, allowing them to explore text structures and develop vocabulary. Knowledge, skills and concepts are outlined in a progressive and age-appropriate manner in order to extend and deepen understanding as pupils progress through the school. Our writing journey at Holy Trinity builds upon pupils’ understanding of writing for audience and purpose, allowing plentiful opportunities for the exploration of different genres. Pupils are explicitly taught to plan, draft, compose, edit and re-draft their writing. We ensure that pupils’ are exposed to rich and varied vocabulary in order to develop their understanding of word meaning, relationships between words and grammatical features. Spelling strategies are taught discretely and supported across all writing opportunities.
Impact
The impact of our English curriculum is demonstrated through progression in writing across all curriculum subjects. A formal assessment of independent writing takes place every half term in years 1, 3, 4 and 5. In years 2 and 6 the Teacher Assessment Framework (TAF) documents are used. In order to ensure secure judgements, a range of moderation exercises are undertaken including whole school moderation, Key stage moderation and moderation across a group of schools. Triangulation of monitoring and evaluation activities assess the impact of our curriculum on our pupils. This includes book scrutiny, learning walks, pupil voice, pupil progress discussions and data analysis. The impact on our pupils is that all make good or better progress from their starting point. We believe that through the enjoyment of their lessons, the foundations are laid to become lifelong learners.
English – Spoken Language
Intent
Our intent at Holy Trinity is to maximise the potential of all of our pupils; socially, culturally, emotionally, morally and intellectually. We believe in enabling our pupils to become confident and competent communicators who possess the skills to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas to others effectively. We are proud of our vibrant and diverse school community and intend to provide a wealth of opportunities for our pupils to develop and deepen their language skills and knowledge in a safe and supportive environment.
Implementation
Spoken language is central to the curriculum at Holy Trinity and the development of vocabulary is embedded within classroom practise. All adults consistently model a high standard of spoken language and provide opportunities for pupils to broaden their spoken vocabulary. We employ a structured and progressive approach to supporting language development and acquisition. At Holy Trinity we use the ‘Progression in Language Structures’ document to identify how learning can be built on language structures. In addition, we provide a wide range of opportunities for pupils to become effective communicators including; drama, role play, debate and discussion. Pupils we identify in Early Years and Key Stage 1 as needing additional support receive a targeted, evidence based intervention to enable them to make progress with their language and communication skills. Bilingual staff are able to support EAL pupils and their families to ensure that they are fully involved in life at Holy Trinity.
Impact
Sentence structures are being used independently by the pupils and transferred appropriately to other subjects, showing that the new language has become securely embedded. Contributions in class increase as the children develop the language tools to express themselves and make full responses to what others have said. Discussion about their own work continues independently throughout lessons, in partners and in groups, supporting one another and extending themselves. Many children develop a more formal register of talk for the classroom which is closer to their written register, showing that academic language is becoming embedded. A wider use of sentence structures and range of vocabulary are used in talk and writing and engagement in tasks increases.
Spelling
Once they have completed the RWI program; children in Year 2 to Year 6 children follow the ‘No-nonsense’ program for spelling. This ensures that spelling patterns and rules, statutory words, common exception words and personal words are explicitly taught. No-nonsense spelling teaches children in a little but often structure which allows children to re-visit and review, learn new strategies and apply.
Handwriting
In Reception and Year 1, children learn letter formation as part of their daily RWI Phonics session. Letter formation is supported through the use of simple rhymes:
Read Write Inc Handwriting Rhymes and Characters
Once they have mastered single letter formation, children follow the ‘Teach Handwriting’ program which aligns with RWI, our chosen Phonics program.
Teach handwriting is a systematic and progressive approach which is designed to support all children through to the end of Key Stage 2. Weekly taught sessions are underpinned by lots of opportunity to practise and apply. Engaging videos on our ‘Teach Handwriting’ school channel support our whole school approach to handwriting.
English Policy:
Long Term Curriculum Plan:
