What an English lesson looks like in our school
- Children work on differentiated tasks individually or collaboratively
- Each piece of work has a clear learning question related to the National Curriculum for English.
- High level questioning and mini-plenaries throughout the lesson share misconceptions, pose questions and challenge ideas.
- Children are encouraged to discuss their ideas and their reasons for them.
- English skills are regularly reinforced in other subject areas.
- Children repeat basic skills regularly through grammar hammer, discretely taught lessons and early morning activities.
- Working Walls provide children with toolkits required to achieve success within the lesson
This is our philosophy:
- All children, regardless of ability, are given the opportunity to maximise their Literal understanding and development through lessons that challenge and support their existing knowledge and build upon it.
- Children learn to enjoy English and recognise that making mistakes is an essential part of their learning process.
- High quality teaching and questioning from early years onwards will support children in developing their English skills.
- Those with English aptitude are challenged and nurtured to work at a higher level whilst those who may need support are supported and developed.
- Access to high quality texts
- High quality modelling and scaffolding of reading skills
- Develop fluent readers who can comprehend
- Develop confident readers who can transfer decoding and comprehension skills across the curriculum
This is what we do:
- Weekly English sessions are planned to meet objectives set out in the national curriculum. Planning may be adapted during the week in response to assessment for learning carried out on a daily basis.
- During the lesson, children are given feedback by teachers or TAs. This will extend learning, address misconceptions or consolidate understanding.
- In nursery, we encourage the development of language skills through social play, mark making and story sharing.
- For one to one early reading, both at home and in school, children have fully decodable books that are closely matched to the phonemes (sounds) they are learning in class.
- Skills are modelled to facilitate communication between peers and adults.
- We teach synthetic phonics and use letters and sounds as our primary scheme.
- At KS1, we use the ‘Talk for Writing’ approach
- We use an integrated programme of speaking, listening, reading and writing
- We provide opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught skills
- Shared writing sessions, encouraging collaborative writing
- We provide opportunities for writing across different genres
- Regular assessment is carried out in order to identify progress and next steps.
- Children have access to a range of materials to support their understanding such as dictionaries, thesauruses, word mats etc.
- Children are given opportunities to respond to both written and verbal feedback.
- Regular monitoring across phases, and with other schools
This is what you might typically see:
- Happy and engaged learners
- Children demonstrating resilience
- Children encouraged to be creative and take risks
- Collaborative or independent work
- English skills being applied across other areas of the curriculum
- Children discussing, reflecting and sharing their learning
- A range of different activities, including use of technology
This is how we know how well our pupils are doing:
- Different forms of feedback
- Ongoing assessment for learning
- Regular data tracking
- Targeted use of interventions
This is the impact of teaching:
- Confident children who want to share their learning in English
- Children are able to use and explain the meaning of vocabulary
- Children who are prepared to take risks
- Children who enjoy English lessons and English across the curriculum
- Children who are enjoying learning in reading sessions