ENGLISH
The overarching aim for English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping 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 develop pupil’s abilities within an integrated program of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing. We believe that this can be best achieved by weaving all strands of English throughout a broad and balanced curriculum and providing opportunities to apply, consolidate and practise their literacy skills in all of their learning.
At St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to ensure that all pupils in our school:
- Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
- Acquire a wide range of vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
- Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.
- Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
PHONICS
At St. Osmund’s, we use the Pip and Pap Phonics Programme that has been fully validated by the Department for Education. Pip and Pap Phonics is a fully systematic, synthetic phonics programme, accompanied by 119 decodable phonics books that are fully aligned to the programme. All children have discrete, daily phonics sessions in small groups where they revisit and review previous learning, are taught new graphemes/phonemes, practise together and then have the opportunity to apply what they have learnt.
This small group approach allows children to learn at their pace and build in daily, weekly and monthly retrieval practices to ensure that children are becoming fluent in reading. Additional afternoon sessions are being taught to children who need extra time to learn some of the 44 phonemes, because as a school we believe this foundational knowledge is the base for future success.
READING
In KS1, children need to be given regular opportunities to apply the phonics they have learned to reading fully decodable books every day. Children are in phonic ability matched groups which are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and skill and their knowledge of common exception words. Children will read decodable books from the Pip and Pap and Big Cat Non-Fiction schemes. As children’s reading progresses, the main focus of reading practice sessions change from decoding to developing comprehension skills further and higher order reading skills, as well as broadening the children’s vocabulary.
In KS1, daily class readers begin in the summer term of Year 2. These are selected from a reading spine of carefully selected books to ensure the children experience a wide variety of authors and genres, as well as a wealth of tier 2 vocabulary.
In KS2, our whole class guided reading lessons at St. Osmund’s, place a high importance on vocabulary, as well as focussing on the key skills needed to become confident, fluent readers who have a good level of comprehension and understanding.
Our daily class readers are selected from a reading spine of carefully selected books to ensure the children experience a wide variety of authors and genres. These books also link to areas of the wider curriculum and expose the children to high quality vocabulary for them to discuss in their daily sessions and explore in depth during weekly lessons.
WRITING
We value the importance of reading to supplement writing, providing a purpose and a context to writing. We know that pupils who are provided a reason for writing demonstrate flair and effective writing composition, leading to high quality outcomes. Every half term, the English curriculum is taught by studying a high quality text where writing opportunities are derived from this. Each week, the children are taught to develop an understanding of the texts through reading comprehension - exploring the key themes, events, and plot of the texts being studied. From this element of the curriculum, pupils are taught the grammar from the National Curriculum which is taught to correspond to the genres being written as part of the writing process. Children are then supported in how to apply the grammatical content taught in identifying features of a high quality modelled text, before progressing to plan, write and re-draft a written piece which is fit for purpose and audience.
Throughout this process children receive regular feedback from both teachers and their peers in the writing process; class teachers provide guidance and feedback during lesson times in order to ensure this has maximum impact on pupils' outcomes.
Based on our belief about spaced and distributed learning, genres are revisited and built up on throughout the primary phase and grammar elements are embedded through regular retrieval practices. We moderate our teaching assessment of writing regularly within and across other schools to ensure that our assessment is accurate.
SPELLING
The spelling program at St. Osmund’s follows the requirements of the National Curriculum. Children who have completed the Pip and Pap programme successfully will follow St. Osmund’s Spelling program. The spelling rules for the week will be explicitly taught during three weekly sessions.
Teachers will assess if children apply the spelling rules in their writing across the curriculum and incorporate this in their writing assessment. It is the teacher’s responsibility to identify gaps and provide children with learning opportunities to close them. To help this process we have now developed an individual spelling approach. Children will write words (age-appropriate) they are not confident with in their spelling book and test them each week. When they achieve these they are collected in individual folders which will also be regularly tested again.
HANDWRITING
At St. Osmund’s Catholic Primary School, we follow the statutory requirements and guidance of the National curriculum. In Reception children will be taught print as this is the advised guidance. From Year 1 onwards children will be taught cursive. In EYFS and Year 1 children should be taught handwriting daily. In Year 2 the children will have a taught handwriting session at least twice a week and daily ten minutes practice sessions. In KS 2 children will have a taught handwriting session and two practice sessions. Further booster sessions might be required for children with particular needs. For the correct letter formation please follow the handbook.
ORACY
Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. In school, oracy is a vital tool for learning; by teaching students to become more effective speakers and listeners we empower them to better understand themselves, each other and the world around them.
At St Osmund's Catholic Primary School, we believe spoken language to be essential in the development and achievement of our children across the curriculum. We strive to develop spoken language skills through the taught curriculum, playtimes and lunchtimes, extra-curricular activities and the whole ethos of the school. Children are taught how to be effective communicators through their learning by developing skills such as storytelling, debating and presenting. Good oracy skills support wider literacy skills; improvement in oracy is also linked to improvements in reading, writing, and overall attainment.