English

At Bishop Martin CE Primary School our Guiding LIGHT Curriculum is built around the National Curriculum, enriched to reflect the children and community we teach.

We strive to provide a curriculum that is underpinned by our Christian Values, which are embedded in the life and work of our school, and to allow all our children to 'Let their Light Shine'.

Let Your Light Shine Before Others So They May See Your Good Deeds' (Matthew 5.16)

National Curriculum - Purpose of Study

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 language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
acquire a wide 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.

Intent

The intention of our English curriculum is to embed a creative, consistent and sequenced approach to English which we hope will ignite a life-long passion for the subject. We strive for all children become confident and fluid readers, enabling them to use their love for reading for both information and pleasure. Children’s reading skills are developed through a range of progressive texts, whilst prioritising reading for pleasure at the heart of all we do. Our text-led curriculum allows us to carefully select a range of high-quality texts in order to immerse our children in rich language to teach our reading and writing curriculum. The selection of recommended books are used as a high-quality stimuli for writing and enables children to be fully immersed in the text; allowing children to carefully craft their writing through a range of experiences in the immerse, analyse and write process. Children can apply their skills through independent writing sessions and write for purpose when publishing their final written pieces. Core skills permeate every stage of learning for grammar, spelling and comprehension and prepare children well for the high expectations we hold of them. A wide range of experiences and opportunities help to guide children’s thirst for learning thus developing children’s individual flair and passion for the subject.

Our English curriculum encourages children to:

Promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of spoken and written language and skills, and to develop their love of literature through a carefully planned reading diet and widespread reading for enjoyment.

Our English aims ensure that all pupils:

Develop skills to read easily, fluently and with good understanding.

Develop a love of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.

Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language and 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.

Develop confidence, stamina and creative flair when applying writing skills independently.

Use discussion in order to learn; to confidently 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.

Inspire children’s love for English through a range of curriculum activities, novels, theatre experiences and author visits.

Implementation

How do we deliver our Reading Curriculum?

Reception/Key Stage One

Children are taught to read in their small RWI group for 40 minutes. Groups follow a three- or five-day planning cycle (depending on the sounds being taught). The children are grouped homogenously in Reception-Year 2 so that teaching is specific to the sounds each individual is learning. Once children can read fluently in Year 2 (90 words in 1 min), they start R.E.A.D lessons.

Phonics- Read Write Inc.

At Bishop Martin, we use Read Write Inc to teach phonics. The programme starts in the first few weeks of Reception and continues until the children are confident and fluent readers. In the RWI sessions, children will become very familiar with Fred. Fred is a toy frog who can only talk in sounds. We encourage the children to listen to ‘Fred Talk’ to hear the distinct sounds in each word. For example, Fred would say c-a-t and we would say cat, Fred would say sh-i-p and the children would say ship. As soon as the children know a small group of sounds then they start to blend. The children begin by blending oral sounds and then progress onto reading the letters and blending them together to read the word.

The Order of Teaching Sounds

In Read Write Inc Phonics, the individual sounds are called ‘Speed Sounds’ – because we want your child to read them effortlessly. Click on the link to the Read Write Inc video demonstrating the pure sounds.

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a-book/read-write-inc-phonics--1/phonics-pure-sounds- video

Set 1 Speed Sounds
Set 1 sounds are the initial letter sounds. They are taught in the following order.

m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, sh, r, j, v, y, w, th, z, ch, qu, x, ng, nk Set 2 Speed Sounds

There are 12 Set 2 ‘speed sounds’ that are made up of two or three letters, which represent just one sound (digraphs / trigraphs) e.g. ay as in play, ee as in tree and igh as in high.

There will be a simple picture prompt linked to the ‘speed sound’ and a short phrase to say e.g. may I play.

Every speed sound has a list of green words linked to it, so your child can ‘sound out’ and ‘sound blend’ words containing the new speed sound they have just learnt, for example s-p-r-ay = spray.

Set 3 Speed Sounds

When learning their Set 3 speed sounds they will be taught that there are more ways in which the same sounds are written, e.g. ee as in tree and ea as in tea.

Nonsense Words/Alien Words

As children develop their skills, we want them to be able to apply their knowledge of sounds and decoding skills to read any unfamiliar word, whether it is real or nonsense. During lessons, children will have opportunities to practice their decoding skills by sounding out the letters in an ‘Alien word’. This shows us that children are using their decoding skills and not relying on existing knowledge of real words. This is an important part of the Phonics Screening Test which children complete at the end of Year 1.

Word Time Lessons

Once the children have learned a few initial sounds, they can begin to learn to blend the sounds together to read real words. Each word time session involves oral blending of the sounds the children have learned and know. The children are then shown the words written down on the green cards. Children have opportunities to practice Fred talking the words until they become able to read them on sight. Ditty lessons following on from this, the children go from reading single words to whole sentences.

Story Book Lessons

Once children are reading whole sentences, the next stage for them in the Read Write Inc scheme is to read the storybooks. These storybooks are closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge. All storybooks consist of green words, linked to the sounds the children have been learning. Red words (words that are not decodable) and also challenge words which support the children’s developing vocabulary. The children practice these words individually and then can apply this knowledge when seeing them in the context of a story. The children are given three opportunities to read this book in school. The first read we are focusing on accuracy, the second read we are focusing on fluency and for the third read the children need to read in their best Storyteller voice!

Spelling with Fred Fingers

Children are taught to use their fingers to help them write words. Children will say a word out loud and then break it down into its individual sounds using their fingers. So, if a word has three sounds in like dog, d-o-g or ship, sh-i-p the child will hold up three fingers. If the word has four sounds in, the child will hold up four fingers. The children then ‘pinch’ each finger as they say the sounds they need in the word. This supports them when writing words as they write a letter that represents each sound.

Letter formation in RWI

Children are taught how to form the letters using a handwriting phrase to help them. For example, for the letter a, the children will learn the phrase, ‘around the apple and down the leaf’. Please see the additional document to see how the children are taught to form the letters.

Phonics Screen Check

In Key Stage 1, children are assessed at the end of Year 1 using a Government Statutory Assessment Tool known as the Phonics Screening Check. This screening check demonstrates if your child can use their skills to decode words to an appropriate standard.

Year Two – Year Six

Reading lessons are planned using the Ready Steady Comprehension Scheme which is based on the objectives set out in the National Primary Curriculum (2014). Teachers plan their reading lessons following a set structure across the week called ‘4 Steps Teaching Sequence’.

Bishop Martin Reading Spine

The Bishop Martin Reading Spine is a core of books that create a living library inside a child’s mind. It is a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story.

Selected by literary expert Pie Corbett, we are now using this Reading Spine to:

Bring reading to life with a classic read aloud programme.
Foster a love of reading with the best-loved books for Reception to Year 6.
Deepen comprehension and teach drama and writing by drawing on the core books.

We aim that all children at Bishop Martin read these books over the course of their respective year. Copies of these texts have been purchased by the school and will be available for children to borrow and take home. These books are all displayed in class reading areas in labelled baskets. The BM Reading Spine will be launched during Spring 2025.

How do we deliver our Writing Curriculum?

At Bishop Martin Church of England Primary School, we follow Ready Steady Write which is a comprehensive and evidence-based scheme. It provides a sequenced, ambitious curriculum, that places quality literature at its core. Our units have been carefully mapped out to match the entire statutory curriculum for writing. We follow the Immerse, Analyse, Write and Publish approach to the teaching of writing. Each genre and writing outcome originates from a quality text driver which has been carefully selected as a high quality, stimulating text.

Timetable

At Bishop Martin Church of England Primary School, we teach Writing daily in KS1 and KS2 following the Whole Class Reading Lesson.

This allows for Writing to be taught following the Reading lesson to maximise opportunities for the ‘Read to Write’ approach.

Lesson Structure - English Writing Lessons

English writing lessons follow the Immerse, Analyse, Plan and Write approach. Teachers plan the writing sequence using the Ready Steady Write scheme.

The writing sequence overview is outlined below:

In Early Years:

In Year One - Year Six:

English Long Term Plan (Writing)

Impact

We prepare children as lifelong learners through delivery of our well-planned English Curriculum which ensures that children are fluent and confident readers and writers.  As a result of a purposeful and well sequenced Reading Curriculum, children have a secure understanding of the specific skills they need to use and apply within reading for their age-related expectations and in future life.   As a result of a purposeful and well sequenced Writing curriculum, children have an understanding of the specific aspects of writing for their age-related expectations.

 We measure the impact of our English curriculum in the following ways:  

Reading Termly Summative Assessments, Writing Termly Summative Assessments (including spelling, punctuation and grammar) which are tracked using LDST tracking system and internally using KPI tracking. 
QLA and closing the gap progress linked to NFER assessments
Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice). 
Subject leadership: subject leaders routinely monitor the effectiveness of their subjects through pupil voice, work and book scrutiny, teaching and learning walks.  
Subject Leader reporting of standards across the curriculum.