English
Intent
The study of English develops a child’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. Our curriculum aims to enable children to develop expertise in reading, writing and spoken language articulately, creatively and imaginatively, both orally and in the written word. It supports them in being capable of speaking and writing with confidence, fluency and accuracy. The progression in English allows children to develop independence in these skills. Through the study of English they become critical readers of stories, poetry and plays, as well as non- fiction and media texts. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. They use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking, listening, reading and writing across a range of different situations. The teaching of English forms a key part in developing our core values of curiosity, independence and aspiration.
At Whitehall the aims of English are:
- to develop children’s aspirations of becoming confident, independent writers, readers and critical speakers;
- to enable children to speak and express themselves clearly and audibly in ways which take account of their listeners;
- to encourage children to listen with concentration in order to be able to identify and follow the main points of what they have heard;
- to enable children to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances, situations and demands;
- to develop children’s abilities to reflect on their own and others’ contributions and the language being used;
- to develop children’s confidence at participating in a range of dramatic activities, evaluating their own and others’ contributions;
- to develop confident, independent readers through an appropriate focus on grammar, punctuation, spelling and text- level knowledge;
- to encourage children to become thoughtful, reflective readers through contact with challenging and stimulating texts;
- to foster an enthusiasm for reading which will develop children as life-long readers;
- to enable children to write with accuracy and meaning in a variety of narrative and non-narrative genres;
- to develop children’s ability to use planning, drafting and editing to improve their work;
- to help children to enjoy writing and appreciate its value;
- Opportunities to take part in reading or writing challenges or year group debates support our core values of aspiration, curiosity and independence.
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Whole School Curriculum Progression Map READING | [pdf 888KB] |
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SPOKEN LANGUAGE Whole School Curriculum Progression Map | [pdf 640KB] |
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Phonics and Early Reading
Validated by the Department for Education, ALS Phonics: Letters and Sounds aims to provide a solid and continuous approach to the teaching of a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme in Nursery, Reception and KS1.
Based on the principles of Letters and Sounds, it offers training, guidance and resources to support schools in the delivery of a successful and complete SSP programme.
Tried and tested teaching sequences and mantras are used daily to ensure children have a clear structure to their learning, developing their ability and confidence to decode successfully, building towards becoming independent readers.
Phonics is key to paving the way to becoming a proficient reader but is only one, if not the most crucial, piece of the reading jigsaw. Effective shared and guided reading and writing strategies are also crucial to reinforcing the development of literacy in children. ALS Phonics also offers a comprehensive programme of training to develop practice around early reading and writing. The approach is multi-sensory and caters for all learning styles (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic).
Teachers and Teaching Assistants at Whitehall have received training for one or more aspect of ALS. Whitehall has an ALS Lead Teacher who coordinates the training and delivery of the Phonics within Whitehall. CPD is provided both in-house and externally at City Hall or at other participating schools. Whitehall is a Core One school which provides CPD for other Leicester City schools that have joined the programme. Lessons have been quality assured by Lead teachers and lessons are monitored during the year.
Phonics – whole class discrete daily phonics lessons starting at Phase 1 in the Nursery, Phase 2, 3 and 4 in Reception and Phase 4 and 5 in Year 1. The sequence of phonemes taught follows the Letters and Sounds DfE publication. The lesson plan changes according to the Phase, however it follows the same structure – Review, Teach, Practice, Apply.
Phase 1 Phonics is taught throughout the Nursery year. It has 7 different aspects which all develop auditory skills. The aspects are as follows:
Environmental Sounds; Instrumental Sounds; Body percussion; Rhythm and Rhyme; Alliteration; Voice sounds and Oral Blending and Segmenting. Each aspect is taught everyday, either whole class or in groups, depending on the aspect being taught. Rhythm and Rhyme and Alliteration continue to be taught throughout the Primary years.
Phase 1 continues to be taught and reviewed during the first half term of the Reception year.
Phase 2 Phonics begins when most of the children are secure with their oral blending and segmenting. During the daily whole class lessons the children are taught phoneme-grapheme correspondence. There are 18 phonemes and 23 graphemes taught in Phase 2. Four phonemes are taught every week, with a revision lesson on the fifth day. The children learn how to blend to read and segment to write words and sentences containing these phonemes. Emphasis is made on learning new vocabulary and reading is familiar and meaningful to the children. Reading and writing strategies (or mantras) are taught so that the children will apply the strategies in their independent work - (for reading - ‘look at the letters, make the sounds and blend the sounds together’ and for writing – ‘say the word, robot the word and write the word’).
These are also used during shared and guided reading and writing. Letter formation and handwriting practice is embedded into the lessons.
Phase 3 Phonics begins to introduce digraphs and trigraphs (25 phonemes).
Phase 4 Phonics introduces adjacent consonants.
Phase 5 Phonics introduces alternative spellings. These lessons revise the previously learnt grapheme and then introduce the new grapheme. Phase 5 usually finishes at the end of Year 1 although Year 2 will revise the Phase during the first half term.
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PHONICS Whole School Progression Map | [pdf 447KB] |
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