English
Speaking and Listening
At St Anne’s, we believe the capability to speak and listen actively is fundamental to pupils’ language and social development. It is an essential tool for all areas of the curriculum, as talk underpins learning and thinking. We strive to expose children to a vocabulary rich environment, explicitly teaching new words in English lessons as well as exposing children to words in every other area of the curriculum informally. It is vital that its significance is recognised by pupils, parents and teachers. Pupils are provided with many and varied contexts for informal talk, as well as teaching the skills of speaking and listening, in order to enhance their vocabulary further.
Reading
We believe that reading is more than a core subject - it is a something to be passionate about and a lifelong love of reading is what we aim to promote. Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment, not only develop their decoding and comprehension skills but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of the world and other cultures. Competence in reading is the key to independent learning and therefore the teaching of reading is given a high priority by all staff. Success in reading has a direct effect on progress in all areas of the curriculum and upon lifelong opportunity. It is crucial in developing children’s self-esteem, confidence and motivation. We implore parents to support their child with their reading journey.
At St Anne’s, we deliver reading with a multi-strategy approach. Initially, children develop their ability to decode words using phonics and other strategies. However, reading is not simply the decoding of marks on the page, but involves the ability to read with understanding. Children are exposed to a wide range of different texts, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry in shared reading sessions and whole class lessons. Children are exposed to high-quality, challenging texts. Please see attached the text map.
100 Books to Read for Pleasure:
Click on the links below to find a list of 11 books aimed at each year group. The list is full of variety and is current. How many of the 100 can you read?
Writing
Writing is a universal method of communication and has a wide range of purposes. Writing is integral to children’s whole language experience and to communicating effectively. We deliver our English curriculum using a ‘3 circles model’, which encourages writing through talking. We believe internalising challenging model texts allows children to develop the tools to write, as well as allowing children to use new and challenging vocabulary.
English is mapped out across the year groups to ensure coverage of the National Curriculum. Please see attached our Long term plans for English.
When asked ‘why we study English’ our pupils’ stated the importance of:
*communicating with other people
*expanding vocabulary to understand conversations
*to be prepared for adult life
*reading to learn new things
*developing thinking skills
*being able to discuss and give their viewpoints
Here is our school text map. By the time a child finishes each year group, we aim to have exposed them to the core texts listed. This list is not exhaustive.
Here are our Long term English Plans for Year 1 - 6