HALFWAYJUNIOR SCHOOL...Those children who require additional support (including those who did not pass the KS1 phonics screening), will receive daily one to one reading or specific

English Policy Halfway Junior School

Sept 2019 Review Sept 2021

Intent, Implementation, Impact.

RATIONALE

At Halfway Junior School, we want all children to develop highly effective communication skills, both written and oral, and a love of literature so that they are equipped to participate fully as a member of society. Our English curriculum is designed and implemented so that it reflects our core learning values:

Aims The aims of the English curriculum at Halfway Junior School are 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

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.

The English Curriculum

Reading

Reading at Halfway is taught through daily lessons of around 45 minutes which focus on the teaching of core skills around reading. Each new term will begin by looking at shorter texts in detail where these core skills will be explicitly taught and practised over the half term.

Across the week, reading skills are covered through the text as follows, and these are displayed on a reading working wall in the classroom to support children’s learning.

Book Study

During the second half term, core reading skills are applied through an engaging book study.

A quality text is used to apply and develop the skills learnt in the previous short text analysis sessions.

Assessment

The assessment of reading is based on an agreed understanding of age related

expectations and whether children are on track to meet the objectives within

each year group. Outcomes of reading are carefully moderated throughout the

year.

Whole class modelling of reading ’Read Aloud-Think Aloud’. Use background knowledge to support comprehension. Predict and ask questions.

Vocabulary - Clarify where vocabulary is not understood. Looking at author’s choice of vocabulary

Detective time – Answering a variety of ‘SATS’ style questions about the text.

‘The Gist’ Put VIP words and phrases together to summarise what they have read.

Get visual- Draw the story. Can children visualise what they are reading. How has the author helped them to do this?

Reading Fluency

“The ability to read with accuracy, proper speed, and meaningful expression”

Are children reading at an age appropriate pace and with understanding?

Vulnerable children are screened for reading fluency groups. These run twice a week for 20 minutes.

Teachers will set up reading groups for those children who need support. Assessment Over the academic year, teachers will measure the impact of the fluency groups:

Are their words per minute and decoding accuracy improving?

Is the average pace increasing and are errors reduced?

Teachers will check children’s fluency at the end of each half term and make judgements around who needs to continue the group or perhaps test other children who have been identified during reading lessons.

Fluency Screening – How do we do it?

1. Prepare an age appropriate text of around 500 words and mark the number of words on each line.

2. Time the children reading for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes is up, count the number of words they got up to.

3. Divide that number by 5 to give words per minute. 4. Errors are counted and recorded. (stopping/stumbling/affecting fluency)

Writing

Writing at Halfway is taught through a long term mastery approach and through carefully planned half-termly teaching sequences.

Mastery in Writing – An overview of the year:

Over the academic year, children are given opportunities to write both narrative and non-fiction texts, building on previous learning.

Autumn 1 Autumn 2 Spring 1 Spring 2 Summer 1 Summer 2

All children experience new learning at Age Related Expectations

See NC Appendix 2

Begin to apply learning in previous term to a different context.

Learning is beginning to be embedded with direct progress evidenced from Autumn 1.

Embed learning to a different context.

Learning is beginning to be mastered with direct progress evidenced from Spring 1.

Mastery is demonstrated through different contexts.

Genre

Aspects of Narrative

Genre

Non – fiction

Non Chronological Reports

Genre

Aspects of Narrative

Genre

Non-fiction

Persuasive writing

Genre

Aspects of Narrative

Genre

Non-fiction

Recount writing

First narrative to teach all the year’s SpaG. Exposing children to

everything they need for ARE.

Second narrative to begin to embed SpaG. Continue

recapping/using SpaG but with a different focus for the

writing.

Third narrative will show that children have mastered ARE! They will start to choose when to use various aspects of

SpaG, knowing when it is or isn’t appropriate.

Direct progress from A1 to Sp1 Direct progress from Sp1 to Su1

The Teaching Sequence for Writing

Teachers at Halfway follow a structured teaching sequence, which is as follows:

Immerse, Analyse, Skills, Plan, Write, Review.

The table below outlines the expectations for teachers and pupils during the different stages of the sequence.

Assessment

When teaching narrative units, teachers use the previous unit’s outcomes to make judgements about where to take the learning next. Over the course of the year, and through careful moderation of outcomes, teachers will see clear and direct progress in writing, from the previous to current narrative each term. Non-fiction writing is moderated across the school and teachers will see clear progress in the given genre from Year 3 to Year 6.

English Books

Teachers will provide a cover page to stick in books prior to the teaching sequence commencing. This will outline the main objectives covered in the sequence and will be evidenced in books as the teaching sequence evolves.

See examples below:

Working walls

All classrooms use a working wall for writing, as a teaching and learning tool.

Working walls at Halfway are a public display of the learning process and evolve as each area of learning progresses.

The purpose of the working wall is to support children’s independent writing.

Spelling

Spelling is a statutory element of the National Curriculum 2014. Spelling rules, word families and common exceptions are taught in every year group. This is done at Halfway through a consistent, systematic approach which builds on the phonic teaching at KS1.

The National curriculum provides a comprehensive list of spelling rules, families and exceptions to be taught when and in which order.

Children who need phonics as an intervention will receive support as appropriate but the majority of children will be taught at age related expectations.

Teaching spelling at Halfway

Spelling is taught regularly in short daily sessions (10-15 minutes)

Over a week the sessions will incorporate the following teaching strategies:

Monday – Teach (introduce the new spelling rule)

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday – Practise

Friday – Apply (spelling dictation ‘test’)

Assessment

At the end of every half term there is an assessment week to cover the words that the class as a whole find difficult to spell but use frequently. These words may be identified within their writing in English.

Handwriting and Presentation

Developing excellent handwriting and high quality presentation skills gives children a real sense of pride in themselves and their work, and increases their motivation and enthusiasm for writing.

Handwriting is taught in whole class daily sessions (15-20 minutes) and follows a scheme for handwriting that is consistent throughout school.

Children use the ‘achieving excellence’ line guided paper for handwriting lessons and attach line guides to plain paper in their books.

Assessment

Children whose writing has reached a high standard can be sent to the Head teacher to apply for a pen license.

The criteria for referral for a license are as follows:

• Correct joining

• Effort

• Consistency

• Longer pieces of writing

• Use of line guides is correct

• Removal of cursive style

Examples of High Standards of Presentation at Halfway

Examples of Writing from Y3-6