Writing
Intent
The intent of the English curriculum is the content we want our pupils to learn and the sequence in which they will encounter it. We continually develop the English curriculum to ensure it is coherent and progressive, engaging and relevant. This curriculum aims to develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject. It is widely recognised that: ‘Fluency in the English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects’. Consequently, our English curriculum aims to inspire and engage our children. Our Phonics and English leaders frequently give feedback to all staff members, governors, parents and carers on the progress of the English action plan.
Implementation
The implementation of the English curriculum is essentially how the curriculum intent is taught to children. At Leasowe Primary, both the governors and the senior leadership team question and discuss the development of the English Curriculum with the English and Phonics leaders to ensure that pupils are taught through an accurate, effective and consistent approach. Both the Phonics and English leaders ensure that all teaching staff have the necessary training, resources and time to provide the planned curriculum. Additionally, teachers accurately demonstrate how to utilise the knowledge and skills taught in English through other areas of the curriculum.
National requirements are mapped out using progressive assessment systems. Teachers follow the programmes we have in place, completing both formative and summative assessments for their pupils accordingly.
School staff ensure that the full content of the English curriculum is accessible for all learners including those with disabilities or special educational needs.
The English curriculum is planned thoroughly, starting with the children's current knowledge and skills, so that real progress can be made and measured. Throughout the year numerous visits, visitors and experiences are planned to enrich learning.
Children’s prior knowledge is assessed on entry to the school and learning planned accordingly. Throughout each Little Wandle, Read to Write, Spelling Shed and reading comprehension unit, children demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the work covered. To make learning semantic, key skills and concepts are consistently revisited in all programmes used.
Impact
We firmly believe that the impact of learning occurs when knowledge can be retrieved from the long term memory and skills have been mastered. The impact of our English curriculum can be clearly seen by looking at children’s Phonics and English books, displays, talking to our pupils, parents and carers, viewing our results of statutory assessments and intervention progress.
What Writing looks like at LPS
Writing
At Leasowe Primary we understand the importance of writing and the merit of our children being able to navigate a range of texts such as narratives and reports which is why we have chosen to use the Read to Write planning tool to enhance and guide our planning. Using Read to Write ensures that we are delivering a progressive curriculum that has been carefully constructed to guarantee we cover the entire statutory curriculum. It allows us to engage and hook the children using high quality texts which lead to incredible ideas, use of ambitious vocabulary and two pieces of extended independent writing at the end of the unit which can be celebrated. Once the children have completed their plan and first draft of their ‘hot task’ they will return to their work and they will make revisions to their writing to ensure it makes sense and is relevant to their audience and purpose. Once they have revised their piece they will edit their final draft in purple pen to correct spelling and punctuation mistakes.
Year 1 to Year 6 have four writing lessons per week as well as grammar specific sessions which allows the children to implement their new learning into their writing.
Spellings
In KS2 we follow the Spelling Shed programme. This specific programme has been chosen to ensure our children follow an organised and progressive curriculum but also because it is proven to be an engaging platform which allows the children to enjoy their learning and choose their own ability level when learning which gives them some ownership over their learning. Our spelling sessions consist of a minimum of three weekly sessions of approximately 20 minutes and we also set spelling assignments for the children to complete at home.