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English at Buckingham Park Primary School
Reading, writing, speaking and listening are life skills. It is through language that we explore, organise and make sense of our experiences. The way children understand and use language is crucial to their social and academic development and will affect all aspects of their life at home, school and in the wider world - no other area is as truly cross-curricular as language.
With this in mind, English is developed through reading, writing, speaking and listening, both across the curriculum and as a subject in its own right, ensuring there is opportunity to demonstrate high level literacy across all subjects.
Our aim is to develop experienced and confident communicators; children who are able to successfully select the most appropriate and effective means of communication from a wide variety of knowledge, skills, styles and techniques.
Our teaching will enable the children to:
- read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, orchestrating a range of independent strategies to self-monitor and correct
- have an interest in books and read for enjoyment
- have an interest in words, their meanings; developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms
- understand a range of text types and genres, and be able to write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation
- develop the powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness
- have a suitable technical vocabulary to articulate their responses
Writing
Writing Curriculum Drivers
Intent
Our intention is to instil a love of writing in all of our children by allowing them to explore their imaginations and purposes for writing by creating exciting learning journeys, which are inspired by an enriching stimulus. We take great care to select high quality books to inspire and enthuse children to write.This means that children have a braod range of writing from different authors to draw upon when composing their own work. We use a balance of classic and contemporary authors, and each half term the children study three or more books in depth in both reading and writing lessons. In each writing unit, children are given the opportunity to write several smaller pieces, which culminate in a more sustained outcome. Children's engagement is maintained through opportunities for stunning starts, role play, purposeful writing with an audience in mind, visits and visitors, using our school environment and visual media such film clips and images. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately, and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We intend to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and give them the skills to use discussion to communicate and further their learning.
Aims
At Buckingham Park Primary, we understand the importance of writing and how it can develop children’s creativity, vocabulary and communication of ideas.
We aim for our children to:
- be motivated to write in a wide variety of genres with a clear purpose
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and the knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts and audiences
- be able to discuss, elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- be competent in speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate
- develop a range of strategies to be able to spell competently
- produce fluent, legible joined-up cursive handwriting
Implementation
At Buckingham Park, we believe that children need to be secure in English, following a clear pathway of progression in the acquisition of skills and knowledge, as they advance through the primary curriculum. A secure basis in writing skills is crucial for a high quality education, and will give our children the tools they need to develop into lifelong, functional and self-motivated writers and speakers.
To ensure this we will:
- use real books and stories to inspire and enthuse our children’s writing
- carefully select a range of high quality books that are appealing to all learners, and that make meaningful links to our wider creative curriculum
- create opportunities to write for many purposes, and genres culminating in a planned sustained outcome
- give purpose to writing opportunities by being mindful of our audience, both real and imaged
- use a wide range of resources, such as film, images, drama and research to complement our book choices, to motivate and inspire our children
- teach the skills of writing through studying how authors write, by modelling writing, and by embedding grammar, punctuation and spelling into the heart of our lessons
Impact
We want the children to reach the expected standards in the English national curriculum and to be confident writers and by the time they are in upper Key Stage Two, be proficient in a variety of genres. Independent writing will be creative, sustained and build upon their knowledge of the writers’ craft including the manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.
As children move on from Buckingham Park to further their education and learning, that their creativity, passion for writing and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
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We teach spelling based on the Rising Stars spelling programme. Rising Stars Spelling is a lively, flexible programme which teaches how to spell in a fun and imaginative way. This is complemented by the Sir Linkalot website and resources.
Children's phonological awareness and spelling strategies are reguarly assessed and this informs teaching. Dedicated time is allocated for teaching and investigating spellings which are based on the spelling guidelines and lists in the Primary English National Curriculum appendices. Children are encouraged to practise their spelling as homework and are given tasks to support their learning in class. Children are taught spelling rules discretely. Word banks, along with dictionaries, are used to support children's spelling at the point of writing.
The teaching of punctuation and grammar is embedded into our teaching of writing, and through studying the use of grammar in the books we use. Occasionally, if a gap in grammatic or punctuation learning is identified we might teach that discretely, however it is more effective to teach through examples in real books.
Grammar Glossary from National Curriculum
Spelling information from National Curriculum
Spelling activities linked to the National Curriculum http://www.spellingframe.co.uk2
Handwriting
Handwriting is a basic skill that influences the quality of work throughout the curriculum. By the end of Key Stage 2 all pupils should have the ability to produce fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy joined-up handwriting, and to understand the different forms of handwriting used for different purposes.
Our intention is to make handwriting an automatic process that does not interfere with creative and mental thinking.
Aims:
- To develop a neat, legible, speedy handwriting style using continuous cursive letters, which leads to producing letters and words automatically in independent writing.
- To establish and maintain high expectations for the presentation of written work.
- For pupils to understand, by the end of Year 6, the importance of neat presentation and the need for different letterforms (cursive, printed or capital letters) to help communicate meaning clearly.
To find outhow to form and join letters click on the Letter Join image below. If your child is at school you can ask us for the password to fully access the site.
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Our Yearly English Overviews for Reading and Writing