English

The subject leader for Literacy is Ms Walker
 
At St George’s the teaching of English is very important. We recognise that when children arrive at our school their abilities in English vary considerably. All children bring some literacy skills with them and it is our aim to build on these through careful identification, planning, class organisation and delivery of learning.

The grasping of literacy skills is vital for success, and the teaching and learning of speaking and listening, drama, reading, writing, handwriting, spelling and presentation are all inter-related.

For children to gain the most from this and have the best chances of achieving their potential it must also be enjoyable and shared by both home and school.

The children have many opportunities to practise their skills in daily literacy lessons which takes place in each class every day and use their literacy skills to access learning across the whole curriculum.  

Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

Children in FS/KS1 have a one hour phonic session every day. The children are split into groups and are taught phonics using the Read, Write, Inc scheme.  

Click HERE to see an overview of the teaching of phonics

This is delivered in a fun way which could include children making letter shapes with their bodies and learning through playing games.

Children are taught:

Speaking and listening and drama

• How to use talk, to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events.
• To use drama to imagine and recreate roles and experiences.

Reading

• Every child has a reading book and takes this home to practise with their parents/carers. (see reading booklet in parents section) This is an important part of the English curriculum.
• They focus on words and sentences and how they fit into whole texts.
• They learn to read independently and with increasing fluency, longer and less familiar texts.
• They read stories, plays, poems, information texts in print and on computer screens, and use dictionaries and encyclopaedias
• Each child has a weekly guided reading session in class with the staff.  This will be with a book a band higher than the one they are reading at home.

Writing

• Write stories, poems, instructions, captions, lists, newspaper articles, etc
• Learn how to use punctuation in their writing
• Practise handwriting and think about patterns of letters and sounds to help them spell words correctly
• Click on the button to see the formation of our letters              

By the end of Key Stage 1, most children are able to

Speaking and listening:

• listen carefully
• show they have thought about listeners by including details to interest them
• speak clearly
• tell stories, and repeat rhymes and poems
• learn new words and use them in conversation
• change how they talk to different people, in a range of situations

Reading

• Read aloud and understand what they have read
• Use more than one way to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words
• Enjoy reading.

Writing

• Write stories with a beginning, middle and an end
• Use writing for different purposes, such as lists or instructions
• Use interesting vocabulary
• Choose words and details to interest the reader
• Write in sentences, using the correct punctuation
• Spell familiar words correctly and use spelling patterns to write unfamiliar words
• Present their work neatly using joined up handwriting  

Key Stage 2

Children are taught:

 Speaking and Listening and drama.

• How to speak to different audiences and use language for effect.
• To shape what they say with a clear beginning and ending.
• Listening carefully, picking out the main points of what people say, and ask questions or make comments.
• Working flexibly in groups, making different contributions.
• Presenting events and characters through dialogue to engage the interest of an audience

Reading

• To read a broad range of materials and use their knowledge of words, sentences and texts to understand the meaning
• As the children’s reading improves they read challenging lengthy texts on their own, and discuss the meaning of books they have read during weekly guided reading sessions.

Writing

• How to write in a range of ways to explore feelings, explain, persuade, review and comment
• To plan and draft their work, check for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• They write legibly in joined up handwriting.

By the end of Key Stage 2 most children are able to

Speaking and Listening

• Listen to presentations and discussions
• Talk about what they have heard
• Develop and shape ideas and stories, using language imaginatively to interest the listener

Reading

• Understand important ideas, themes, events and characters
• Give ideas about a text, supporting them by referring to it
• Use different ways to find information

Writing

• Write in a lively, thoughtful way in a range of forms
• Organise ideas to draw them to the reader’s attention
• Use adventurous words
• Spell words accurately most of the time
• Use the correct grammar and punctuation
• Write legibly and in joined-up handwriting

 In addition the children will receive discreet Spelling sessions 3/4 times a week using the RWI Get Spelling programme. 

Children can embed their knowledge of spelling patterns at home by playing a variety of games on www.oxfordowl.co.uk

Children will need a username and password to log on. If you would like your child's login details, please contact the school and we will be happy to pass them on. 

The content of English lessons is often drawn from our Topic work, which makes writing more meaningful for the children.  They are expected to write at the same standard right across the curriculum, and not just produce their best writing in English lessons.  

Click HERE to see our Overview of texts covered

Click HERE to see our Reading and Phonics policy

Click HERE to see our knowledge and progression of skills document in Reading

Click HERE to see our knowledge and progression of skills document in Writing