Pupils will value their English education in all areas; speaking and listening, reading, writing and all that encompasses this. Pupils will have a profound command of the English language enabling them to not only read for pleasure but empowering them through the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom. Our pupils will be confident to discuss, explain, present and debate through the wide and varied use of the English language. They will be fluent in transcription and creative in composition demonstrating a love of English which is built on a foundation of good quality texts from the diversity of modern texts to great historic literature. As with all curriculum subjects the relationship of trust between staff and pupils is at the forefront of teaching, progression and pupil attainment.

We base our curriculum around literature in order to foster a passion and love for reading because at Bapchild & Tonge School and Nursery we know that our children thrive when their learning has a purposeful context and provides an immersive experience. We have worked hard to provide our children with rich and varied learning opportunities that help them to become confident and enthusiastic learners. We enable our children to have a positive attitude towards communication, independently express their emotions and their ideas; the acquisition of vocabulary is truly empowering to our learners. Through our English Curriculum, we strive to teach the children how important their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills will be in the real world. By giving this context to their learning, the children understand the value of English to them now, and in their futures.

Implementation

Early reading and writing are supported by Floppy’s Phonics and Phonics International. By providing all teaching staff across school with regular professional development, this ensures that our teaching and learning approaches are consistent to enable children to make excellent progress in phonics and writing. Our Enquiry-based learning approach emphasises our children's role in the learning process and asks them to engage with an idea or topic in an active way. This learning approach is all about asking questions and igniting our children’s curiosity, the spark that motivates them and makes them want to learn more. Through effective questioning teachers stimulate discussions and creative and critical thinking.

To support children in their writing, a carefully planned sequence of lessons based around rich texts enables children to focus on vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling, while developing their creativity and independence within their writing. Children have the opportunity to write for a range of purposes to develop their skills as fiction and non-fiction writers.

Children begin their sequence of learning by being immersed in the writing and text type. This may include looking at the features of a text and gaining the relevant information to be able to write about a subject successfully. They will then gather vocabulary through our ‘word aware’ at the start of each lesson which will support them in their writing. Once children have gathered appropriate and high-level vocabulary, they will then begin to construct sentences, focusing on structuring their sentences in different ways and including age-related grammar and punctuation skills. Children will then plan their writing, understanding how to organise their thoughts to have the most desired impact on the reader. When children have gathered an understanding of all of this, they will be able to draft their writing independently, with teachers providing feedback verbally and through marking. When children have drafted their writing, they will gain feedback from their peers and teaching staff, encouraging them to take the necessary steps to up level their work before writing their final draft.

Their writing takes on many forms and they are encouraged from an early age to review the successes of their own writing and to make regular improvements to their own work and to the work of their peers. Across our school, we focus importance upon handwriting through correct formation and our pencil and pen progression.

To support children in their early reading skills we use Floppy’s phonics to develop children’s fluency in reading. Our teach and apply sessions focus on listening and oral participation, focussing on reading fluency and understanding of skills like segmenting and blending. From Year 1-6 children have VIPERS sessions three times per week developing their enquiry based learning and critical thinking, deepening their understanding of the texts. Through regular pupil and teacher voice we ensure books are relevant and following the children’s interest to ensure children are immersed in a love of reading. We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy. We read to children every day across all subjects. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at Bapchild and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures. Every classroom has an inviting book corner that encourages a love for reading. We curate these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books. Children are able to use accelerated reader to quiz on the books they read, further developing their comprehension skills and excitement for reading.

Impact

As a result of high-quality English teaching and learning at Bapchild and the focus that we place on rich vocabulary across the curriculum, our children leave as confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers and writers. They are able to talk about their own writing and the various forms, purposes and impact that their writing may have. Their independent writing will also include the grammar, punctuation and spelling skills that have been taught as part of their sequence of learning. In addition children will be able to apply these skills across all curriculum subjects. Children will also have a wide range of language rich texts and authors/poets that have been shared with them throughout their learning journey. Our children read with confidence, fluency and good understanding, drawing upon a range of strategies to decode and decipher the texts developing good comprehension skills. Through our wide range of reading materials our children read spontaneously for enjoyment and pleasure. They can read confidently to acquire information, rich vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading.