English

At Boorley Park, we are committed to developing our children’s speaking & listening, reading and writing skills and knowledge so that they are confidently literate. We also want to encourage a passion for reading so that our children enjoy immersing themselves in high quality literature. This enjoyment will in turn help to inspire their writing and give them the tools to become independent learners.

Reading and writing are at the heart of the school day. The majority of our written work is cross-curricular and teachers create meaningful links between topics to ensure writing lessons are engaging. Emphasis is placed on using high quality literature as a stimulus for writing and teachers consider the importance of finding meaningful purposes for writing that inspire the children.

Reading

We want children to develop a passion for reading that will last a lifetime. Children are encouraged to read for pleasure and to read across the curriculum to support their knowledge and understanding in all core and foundation subjects. Reading lessons are taught consistently as part of the weekly teaching and learning sequence of English lessons so that children are taught the skills necessary for interrogating texts. We also allocate daily time to teach reading:

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) we promote a love of reading by sharing stories on a daily basis. We are committed to doing this all through your child’s journey through the school. In the EYFS, children are encouraged to re-tell familiar stories, rhymes and songs using props, actions and role-play. We develop phonetical awareness using ‘letters and sounds ‘

In Year 1 (and Y2 as the school grows), children continue to learn phonics systematically through ‘letters and sounds’. Teachers supplement this scheme with other commercial schemes that link sounds to songs and rhymes. Guided reading is used to ensure that all children have a daily reading focus with an adult to teach & support them to develop their fluency and comprehension.

As the school grows, in years 3 to 6, we will use a range of approaches including whole class reading and targeted guided reading to enable all children to make progress. Children will be introduced to rich and challenging texts. They will then complete a range of tasks based on their class text. These tasks will focus on specific reading skills such as predicting, inferring characters feelings or retrieving information using evidence from the text. Teachers will choose high quality texts that enable children to develop their reading skills and encourage reading for pleasure. Where possible, teachers will choose texts that relate to class topics.

Writing

Home Learning Writing video CLICK HERE

At Boorley Park, teachers plan writing opportunities linked to high quality texts. We ensure that there is a meaningful outcome for a variety of genres so that children are given a real purpose for their writing. 

During a unit of work, children are given the opportunity to use drama and discussion to develop their speaking and listening skills. We recognise the importance of writing as a process. Children have regular opportunities to gradually draft and develop their final pieces of writing. Children are given time to edit and improve their written work after feedback from their teacher. The teaching of grammar is interwoven into daily reading and writing lessons so that children are given the opportunity to learn grammar in context.

Speaking and Listening

Our intention is for children to:

• Express their opinions, articulate feelings and listen to and respond appropriately in a range of situations;
• Participate with different groups of children to present ideas with confidence, valuing the views of others;
• Speak audibly and confidently before an audience (for example when leading class and whole-school worship; when performing in school plays).

Approaches to teaching and learning encourage pupils to voice their ideas in small group and class discussions, as we recognise that sharing and explaining concepts with peers enhances learning. Staff model the use of higher level vocabulary within their speech and expanding children’s vocabulary is a key focus from EYFS onwards. Subject specific vocabulary is embedded across the curriculum, through teacher modelling, in context. Contextual learning helps children to understand new words and supports them in including them in their work.

Guided Reading sessions encourage pupils to explore unfamiliar vocabulary and expand their knowledge of words. Staff model correct grammar in speech and encourage children to reflect this in their use of spoken and written language. Children are given the chance to orally rehearse ideas for writing regularly.

Drama is used across the curriculum to explore and engage children in their learning. This gives children the chance to embed vocabulary in shared activities.