English
English
The programmes of study that we follow are:
Foundation Stage: Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework. (Literacy, Communication & language)
Key Stage 1: National Curriculum 2014
Subject Leader: Tracey Rae
Megan Kilby (Shadow Leader)
English Support: Amna Tahira (phonics), Jo Hazel (EAL and Intervention Lead)
At Blossomfield, we believe that everyone should be able to articulate their thoughts and ideas with confidence. Staff aim to provide our children with the knowledge and skills they need to communicate orally and through the written word. We believe it is vitally important that every child foster a love of books, so that they may become fluent and competent readers for pleasure and for information. Children are given opportunities to apply their knowledge to enrich other areas of their learning.
Speaking and listening
Throughout school, children are taught to speak confidently, fluently and audibly. They are expected to participate in discussions asking questions of each other and providing answers in extended sentences. This is modelled to them by staff, and children who find this difficult are sensitively supported to share their views and know that they have a right for their voice to be heard. Teachers plan a wide range of activities which promote oracy, such as drama, role play and storytelling.
English as an Additional Language (EAL)
At Blossomfield there is a collective responsibility to identify and remove barriers that may stand in the way of our children’s achievement and inclusion; this includes children who have English as an Additional Language. We work closely with the EAL service in Solihull to support children to access the curriculum and achieve their full potential. In school we raise the profile and celebrate the variety of languages spoken through planned events and displays.
Phonics
Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) is our chosen phonics programme. The aim of ELS is 'Getting all children to read well, quickly'. It teaches children to read by identifying the phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and graphemes (the written version of the sound) within words and using these to read words.
Children begin learning phonics at the very beginning of Nursery and it is explicity taught every day during a dedicated slot on the timetable. Children are given the knowledge and the skills to then apply this independently.
Throughout the day, children will use their growing phonics knowledge to support them in other areas of the curriculum and will have many opportunities to practise their reading. This may include reading 1:1 with a member of staff, reading in a small group, with a partner during paired reading and as a class.
Children continue daily Phonics lessons in Year 1 and further through the school to ensure all children become confident, fluent readers.
We follow the ELS progression and sequence. This allows our children to practise their existing phonic knowledge whilst building their understanding of the ‘code’ of our language GPCs (Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence). As a result, our children can tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover.
Children experience the joy of books and language whilst rapidly acquiring the skills they need to become fluent independent readers and writers. ELS teaches relevant, useful and ambitious vocabulary to support each child’s journey to becoming fluent and independent readers.
We begin by teaching the single letter sounds before moving to digraphs ‘sh’ (two letters spelling one sound), trigraphs ‘igh’ (three letters spelling one sound) and quadgraphs ‘eigh’ (four letters spelling one sound).
We teach children to:
• Decode (read) by identifying each sound within a word and blending them together to read fluently
• Encode (write) by segmenting each sound to write words accurately.
The structure of ELS lessons allows children to know what is coming next, what they need to do, and how to achieve success. This makes it easier for children to learn the GPCs we are teaching (the alphabetic code) and how to apply this when reading.
ELS is designed on the principle that children should ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’. Since interventions are delivered within the lesson by the teacher, any child who is struggling with the new knowledge can be immediately targeted with appropriate support. Where further support is required, 1:1 interventions are used where needed. These interventions are short, specific and effective.
Reading
We expect everyone, including the adults in school, to read every day. Every classroom has a reading area, which is used to encourage children to foster a love of stories and non-fiction texts. Children are expected to discuss books that they read and share with their peers what they like or dislike about a book. We aim to use stories every day across the curriculum, both for pleasure and for stimulus and discussion. There is at least one story time session timetabled every day, where children can absorb themselves in a book, which is read to them. In each classroom, children vote for the book they would like to be read to them at the book voting station. These books are usually linked to the current topic. Oxford Reading Tree is our main reading scheme, supplemented by a number of books from parallel schemes such as the Collins 'Big Cat' series and Heinemann 'Sails' to give breadth in reading. This ensures the children have access to a range of stories, characters, vocabulary, print, layout, styles and genre. Additionally we have a large bank of fiction and non-fiction books for children to choose from in our classrooms and library. Children read and discuss these books in guided groups in school and also take them home to share. All children have a reading diary in which teachers, parents and the children can record 'reading messages' . Our school library is central to our reading ethos and it is regularly visited and enjoyed by the children and the teachers in school.
Writing
From the very earliest stages, children at Blossomfield are encouraged to become confident, creative and independent writers. A range of high quality texts are used from differing genres, to enable children to write to suit their audience and purpose of a task. Children are expected to apply their writing skills across the wider curriculum. Termly samples of the children's writing are kept in a special writing book from Nursery and continue throughout the school to provide a detailed record of progress, which can be reflected on by the children with their teachers regularly. This writing record goes home to parents each term for them to peruse with their child and provide an encouraging comment that they can read to their child. Staff model correct letter formation at every opportunity and children are encouraged to use the correct formation in all of their handwriting. Handwriting is taught as a separate lesson and linked to the phonics teaching.
ENGLISH OVERVIEW FROM NURSERY TO YEAR 2
| NURSERY | RECEPTION
| YEAR 1 | YEAR 2 |
PHONICS | Phase 1 phonics | Phase 2/3/4 phonics | Phase 5 phonics | Phase 6 phonics |
TERM | ||||
autumn 1 | Who am I? My Nursery Growing Up British Food Week Handy Week Autumn Diwali
| Me in my World Phase 2 phonics Starting school stories Name Writing Pre-cursive script for writing. Elmer stories – focus on being different Owl babies Writing about what children like – intial sounds Vocabulary and labels for family names and relationships | Caves or Waves Reading labels and signs Alphabetical order Labels/ captions linked to geography/ science Writing new poems/ stories Non-fiction writing linked to geography/ science Sequence events in a story Texts We’re going on a bear hunt, The sea is deep
| World War 2 Non-fiction reading linked to history – features of non-fiction and how organised Drama through stories – creating expression Character and setting descriptions linked to history Drama through stories – creating expression Texts Postcards, non-fiction texts about WW2, recipe cards |
autumn 2 | What do we Celebrate? Bonfire Night/Anti-bullying week Birthdays Birthday stories Nativity Christmas Christmas Nursery Noel | You are my Hero Phase 2/3 phonics Name Writing (surnames) Pre-cursive script for writing. Labels Letter writing Home address Fiction and non-fiction books about emergency services Christmas stories and songs | What’s in a Gift? Instruction writing – using time words/ bossy verbs Character and setting descriptions Texts Pinocchio, Dogger, Christmas story | Back to Backs – WW2 Recounts of real life events Invitations, persuasive posters and letter writing Story language to create own versions of traditional stories Texts Non-fiction texts about back to backs
|
spring 1 | That’s Incredible! The Gruffalo Fairies Chinese New Year (Highway Rat) Dragons & Princesses (Zog) Dinosaurs We’re Going on a Bear Hunt | Once upon a Time – Traditional Tales Phase 3 phonics Nursery rhymes Writing – letters, lists, labels, re-telling stories, speech bubbles Pre-cursive script for writing. Story maps for traditional tales Hot Seating characters from stories Theatre visit Mother’s Day cards | Super Structures Story structure – beginning, middle and end Problems and solutions in stories Repetition in stories – story pattern Non-fiction fact writing Acrostic poetry Texts Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Three Billy Goats Gruff, non-fiction texts and poems linked to castles and buildings
| Famous Faces Shakespeare Story writing in an author’s style Creating new characters for stories – expanded noun phrases Dictionaries – spelling and meanings of words Texts William Shakespeare
|
spring 2 | All around our World Non-fiction texts about the continents Australasia Africa The Americas Asia Europe
| How does your Garden Grow? Phase 3 phonics Writing using phonics and high frequency words – letters, labels, lists, speech bubbles and cards Phonic apps on iPads Cursive script for writing Adjectives using ‘FANTASTICS’ to scaffold writing Hot Seating characters from stories e.g. the giant. | To Infinity and Beyond Creating own poems using rhyming couplets and non-rhyme Reading comprehension Fact files – astronauts Create science book linked to materials Books reviews Texts The darkest dark, Tim Peake’s space diary, Aliens love underpants, Beegu
| Shakespeare Rhyming words and alliteration to create new poems Writing for different purposes
Texts The owl and the pussycat,
|
summer 1 | All Aboard! write dance – scrimbling Story scribing – journals Introduce passports Labels linked to topic
| All things Wild Phase 3/ 4 Phonics Vocabulary linked to learning themes Author study – Eric Carle Labels for animals and mini beasts, habitats, parts of mini beasts. Writing information posters. Speech bubbles Acrostic poems | Curious Creatures Comparison of stories by the same author Noticing speech and repeating patterns Texts Tiger who came to tea, Percy the Park keeper, poems and non-fiction texts relating to animals
| Rainforest Inferences of character feelings Story writing in an author’s style/ biography Exclamations, commands, questions and statements Dictionaries – spelling and meanings of words Texts Non-fiction texts/ poetry relating to the rainforest
|
summer 2 | Splish, Splash, Splosh Treasure Maps Write Dance Labels
| Commotion in the Ocean Phase 4 phonics Vocabulary linked to learning themes Reading non-fiction books/ play scripts/ poetry Making posters Non-fiction texts about sea creatures Atlas | What’s Around Us? Linked to geography and our local area.
Texts poems and non-fiction texts relating to weather/ local area
| Author study Recounts and memories Writing narratives Texts Roald Dahl,
|