English

Our English Curriculum:

English Policy

English Policy 2024-2026

Updated: 01/12/2024 423 KB

Intent

At Duke Street Primary School, our overarching aim for English is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping our pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

We aim to ensure that all of our pupils:

read easily, fluently and with good understanding
develop the habit and love of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
appreciate our rich and varied literary and cultural heritage
write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes, audiences and cultures
use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
are competent and confident in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Reading

In addition to our direct teaching of reading through our shared and guided reading sessions, we encourage children to read for pleasure and each child has the opportunity for independent and class reading each day through our daily ERIC (Everybody Reading in Class) and class novel sessions.

Throughout the school year, the importance of reading and writing is also enhanced through World Book Day, author and poet visits and in-house school reading events organised by English Ambassadors and a staff reading group. We also promote local community reading projects such as the Book Bench Project organised through Chorley Council scheme- ‘What’s Your Story Chorley?’

Duke Street’s Bedtime Hour!

Reading event – November 2021

Spook Street at Duke Street!

Reading event – October 2021.

Home Reading

Our home reading scheme contains a blend of decodable and non-decodable books and we encourage children to read a variety of texts to ensure a balance between poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Home readers are matched to the child’s phonetic development and reading ability, which is in line with our progression in phonics. Our scheme develops greater independence and fluency in a child’s reading. We also emphasise to parents and guardians the importance of questioning and understanding of texts to support a child’s developing comprehension.

Examples of the schemes used in guided reading:

Collins – Sky Racer / Spotlight/ Big Cat

Longman – The Book Project

Oxford Reading Tree / Songbirds

Pearson – Phonics Bug

Examples of the schemes used for home reading:

Early Readers

Oxford Reading Tree / Songbirds/ Tree Tops

Wolf Hill

Project X

Collins – Sky Racer

Reading Eggs

Reading Eggs makes learning essential reading and phonics skills fun and is very interactive.

The programme uses a highly motivating sequence of online reading lessons, activities and books that keep pupils engaged and on task.

Children can access Reading Eggs at school during reading time and also when at home.

Writing

At Duke Street Primary School, we ensure that the teaching of writing is purposeful, robust and shows clear progression for all children. In line with the National Curriculum, each year group is taught the explicit grammar, punctuation and spelling objectives required for each age group. We carry out the curriculum planning for English in three phases (long-term, medium-term and short-term). The National Curriculum and the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage detail the objectives and genres to be covered each year. Our curriculum is carefully planned to engage and excite all pupils by our teachers mapping out and planning their year group’s English lessons. To support and guide their plans, teachers use and adapt ideas taken from Lancashire’s Scheme of Work and Lancashire’s Key Learning Indicators of Performance (KLIPs) to ensure that age appropriate skills and knowledge are taught across the school.

English Ambassadors

We have very passionate English Ambassadors from Yr 2- Yr 6 who enjoy promoting reading and writing throughout the school. They deliver assemblies, visit classrooms, run a variety of clubs, read to children in EYFS and KS1 and help to plan many exciting English events throughout the school year.