Intent

At Mosspits Lane Primary school our intent is to provide an inspirational English curriculum for our children that allows them to develop into confident, creative communicators, readers and writers. We recognise that English is a core subject within the National Curriculum and essential for educational and social progress.

We aim to establish all children as fluent and accurate readers, by providing high quality phonics teaching and frequent assessment, so that learning can be adjusted and interventions can be delivered in a timely manner, with the intention of children gaining high order reading and writing skills.

We are dedicated to enabling all of our pupils to become confident, lifelong readers. Careful selection of quality texts throughout school enables our pupils to develop a rich and varied understanding of language, with opportunities to transfer this understanding to other areas of the curriculum and to prepare them for their future journey, in education and beyond.

Speaking and listening is prioritised in order to build vocabulary for all learners in order to understand more complex texts.  We provide rich, meaningful discussions around texts, where all children feel confident and able to contribute by using their reading skills to access all areas of learning.

Implementation

Early reading is prioritised in EYFS and KS1. It is underpinned by a coherent and systematic phonics scheme which is taught daily. At Mosspits Lane Primary School, this is delivered through the Read, Write Inc programme. All EYFS, KS1 children, and any child in Key Stage 2 with gaps in phonic knowledge are grouped to ensure they receive the most effective level of support and challenge. Staff have high quality training in teaching phonics and have the opportunity to share good practice amongst each other to ensure consistency and the same high standards are met across the key stages.

The foundations are laid in EYFS with a strong focus on speaking and listening skills. These are crucial for reading and are practiced throughout the day through listening to stories and joining in with song and rhyme.

Lessons are focussed around a decodable text whereby all words include only the sounds the child has been taught. The text is shared at every lesson. On the first reading, the children practice decoding and explore any unfamiliar vocabulary. On the second reading, children build accuracy and fluency. On the third read, children learn to use expression, and read with a ‘storyteller’ voice. 

Children at the more advanced stages of phonics learning continue to work with the text for a further two sessions, focussing on developing deeper comprehension skills.

At the end of the cycle, children are set a copy of the text online using Oxford Owl.  They also receive a ‘book bag book’. This is another text at the same phonics level, but is new to the child. Children also take home a ‘sharing book.’

Our phonics teaching ensures that children experience success with reading from an early stage, helping them to develop into confident and enthusiastic readers.

Once children have completed Read Write Inc, we use the Steps to Read scheme.  Daily lessons follow a clear teaching sequence that explicitly teach reading skills and strategies in a cumulative way through evidence-based approaches. These units have been constructed so that the entire statutory curriculum for reading is covered. Language-rich texts develop vocabulary teaching and engaging texts promote a life-long love of reading. Units include poetry, non-fiction and fiction texts that enhances knowledge learning across the curriculum. Children develop their key reading skills of decoding, vocabulary, retrieval, inference, prediction, explanation and summarising. Children also continue to develop their reading fluency skills by using choral and echo reading.

Beyond the classroom, children have access to Oxford Reading Buddy. Digital books and book quizzes are matched to a child’s reading ability. There is opportunity to be coached in their understanding by a personal ‘Reading Buddy.’ Children will also bring home a book they have chosen to read for pleasure.

We aim to provide many opportunities where pupils can listen to stories/texts or read independently in a quiet and reflective environment. Children have access to “book areas” in class which contain age appropriate high-quality texts, that can be used to discuss feelings, situations, cultures, issues or just read for pleasure.

Children are further exposed to high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry model texts which provide a stimulus for them to write for a variety of audiences and purposes. They are given opportunity to analyse, imitate and innovate each model text to appreciate it both as a reader and a writer. A core text map drives our planning and teaching.

Children’s phonic knowledge and understanding is assessed half-termly in accordance with the Read, Write Inc assessment.

All Year 1 children sit the Phonics Screening Check in June, and children who fail to meet the pass mark retake the check the following year. In preparation for this, children in Year 1 and children re-taking the check also sit practise papers as well as their usual Read Write Inc assessment.  

To support the children on their reading journey, they may be given additional 1:1 reading time with an adult or may take part in additional reading support. All these approaches help to develop word recognition and comprehension in line with the ‘simple view of reading’.

Judgements are supported by formative assessment through NFER. This is in addition to SATs for children in Years 2 and 6.

Impact

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident word readers by the end of KS1. As a Year 6 reader, transitioning into secondary school, we aspire that children are fluent, confident and able readers, who can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as use their reading skills to unlock learning in all areas of the curriculum.

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment is in line or exceeds their potential when we consider the varied starting points of all our children. We measure this using a range of materials, whilst considering the age-related expectations for each year group.

Spoken Language

At Mosspits Lane Primary School we develop pupils' spoken language using the principles outlined in the DfE's National Curriculum (2014).

The national curriculum for English reflects the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.

Teachers will therefore ensure the continual development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills. Pupils should develop a capacity to explain their understanding of books and other reading, and to prepare their ideas before they write. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear to themselves as well as to others, and teachers should ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy their misconceptions. Pupils will also be taught to understand and use the conventions for discussion and debate.

All pupils will participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils will be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role.

Examples of where speaking and listening might occur:

• Talk for Writing
• Stories, songs & poems (including learning/reciting of classic and modern poetry)
• Storytelling.
• Describing events, observations and experiences.
• Giving reasons for actions.
• Explaining ideas and opinions in discussion and responding to others.
• Planning, predicting and investigating in small groups.
• Presentation to different audiences.
• Reading aloud.
• Imaginative play and role play
• Drama activities.
• Class council / school council.
• Circle time.
• Class assemblies.
• Productions / performances.

Teachers assess children’s speaking and listening skills continuously using National Curriculum.