English

At Bird in Bush, we want our children to leave us as fluent speakers, readers and writers. Children are empowered by a high-quality, structured and creative English curriculum so that they can communicate not just ideas, but also emotions and concepts to others. They understand that there are different purposes and audiences and can adapt the way they communicate according to these. 

We follow the Literacy Tree Curriculum guidance that guides our English planning and teaching approach. The range of books that we introduce to our children are carefully chosen for their quality of text; their diversity and the way they will extend the love of reading.

Intent:

Children develop as passionate readers, where reading is used not just to develop their subject-specific knowledge, but to widen their understanding of their own and other cultures and societies, build their emotional intelligence and grow their imagination. Children will experience the shared reading of a broad range of texts and be motivated to read widely both inside and outside of school. They will build a strong understanding that reading is for gaining information across the curriculum and for pleasure.

Teachers will directly teach ambitious vocabulary drawn from the books and texts read, as well as the wider curriculum and the world around them, so that children have a wide vocabulary when they enter secondary school and are able to make connections between texts, their lives and the wider world. Teachers ensure that children develop a strong understanding of grammar, transcription and composition skills that enable them to be confident writers.

Cross-Curricular Literacy Opportunities:

We teach the National Curriculum for English. The skills that children are taught in Literacy underpin all other subjects.  They enable pupils to communicate and express themselves in all areas of their work.  Teachers will always make cross-curricular links wherever appropriate and will plan for pupils to apply the skills, knowledge and understanding that they have acquired during Literacy to other areas of the curriculum.

Implementation:

Phonics

Research shows that teaching Phonics in a structured and systematic way is the most effective way of teaching young children to read.  Almost all children who receive good teaching of Phonics will learn the skills they need to decipher new and unfamiliar words. At Bird in Bush School, Phonics in the Early Years is taught on a daily basis and follows the DFE accredited FFT Routes to Reading programme. Our children are taught the skills for segmenting and blending words and are introduced to new phonemes as part of a systematic synthetic approach. The teaching of Phonics continues across KS1 as children are introduced to alternative graphemes, lesser known sounds and begin to learn some of the more complicated spelling rules. 

At the end of Year 1 children are required to sit the Phonics Screening Check to assess their ability to segment and blend words. Children are presented with 40 words – a mixture of real and pseudo words and they are expected to apply their Phonics knowledge to read the words. If children are unsuccessful in Year 1 they have the opportunity to retake the test in Year 2. Intervention groups are set up for those children struggling with their Phonics learning and this additional support will continue in Key Stage 2 if necessary.

As children move through the school, they are taught to retrieve, summarise, infer, predict, discuss meaning and make comparisons and links through whole class reading of high-quality shared texts.

Bird in Bush readers:

At Bird in Bush we believe that reading is central to a child’s understanding of the school curriculum and is of vital importance in life. We will develop a love and appreciation of reading which will stay with children for life. We will use good reading materials and resources to provide a breadth and range of reading material in school.

Early Years Foundation and Key Stage 1 classes enjoy and participate in story time sessions regularly.  Teachers in Key Stage 2 regularly share a range of narrative and non-narrative texts with the whole class.

Each class has a book corner.   As part of home reading, children should be selecting a book from the school library or class libraries appropriate to their level.  We encourage parents/carers to hear their child read unless they are at a level where the pupils can assess their own reading.  Feedback on home reading is made by parents/carers or pupils within the Home Reading Records.

Bird in Bush teachers share their love of reading within and outside of their classrooms. Children are read a wide range of texts to build their knowledge of people, places and things and to ignite a lifelong love of reading. Reading is brought to life through experiences and the use of technology, which provides children with rich experiences to discuss, make links and build upon previous knowledge. 

Bird in Bush writers:

In their writing, children are taught the fundamental transcription skills first. In EYFS and KS1 children are taught to form letters correctly, to punctuate accurately, and to spell words using the graphemes they know. Children are also taught to develop their ideas and organise them into sentences. As children move through the school, we then teach them to write for a range of purposes and audiences, making links across the curriculum and to local and global issues and current affairs.

Impact:

We use a variety of strategies to evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children gain in English as they progress from Nursery to Year 6:

  • CPD to ensure that teacher pedagogy and assessment is secure

  • Regular feedback through marking and feedback in English lessons 

  • Regular pupil voice feedback to evaluate children’s mastery of the English curriculum

  • Subject monitoring, including book looks, learning walks and lesson observations

  • Regular low stakes knowledge assessments, using a range of creative approaches

  • Moderation with our partner schools to ensure secure teacher judgements

  • Regular phonics and reading assessments ensure our children are provided with appropriate challenge and support

Enrichment:

During their time at school, our children are given every opportunity to participate in a wide range of learning experiences beyond their classroom. These experiences provide children with stimulating real-life experiences on which they can pin their reading, writing and speaking development. They will have opportunities to meet and work with authors and build their knowledge of literature. English learning is practised and embedded across the wider curriculum. Speaking and writing outcomes draw from knowledge gained in other subjects and English skills are used to enhance learning elsewhere.