English

At The Free School Norwich we aim to provide a supportive and enriching environment where all children develop the knowledge and skills needed to become effective communicators within and beyond the classroom. Through our English Curriculum, we strive to teach children how important their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills will be in the real world. We enable them to not only communicate with others effectively for a variety of purposes but also to examine their own and others’ experiences, feelings and ideas therefore equipping children to be life- long learners.

Intent

SPEAKING & LISTENING

We intend:

• To ensure that all children become effective communicators within and beyond the classroom.
• For our children to be able to speak clearly, fluently and coherently, to be able to listen attentively with understanding, pleasure and empathy and contribute to group discussions effectively
• For our pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary for spoken language
• For our pupils to rehearse their writing orally
• For our pupils to use discussion in order to learn, to elaborate and to explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• For our pupils to develop competence and fluency in the arts of speaking and listening, presenting, sharing, participating and debating
• For our pupils to gain the confidence to speak in front of an audience.

READING

We intend:

• For our pupils to become enthusiastic and motivated readers
• For our literature to promote our school values, thus embedding characteristics of effective learning and citizenship
• To develop pupils’ confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types
• For our pupils to have the skills to decode words to be able to read as fluently as possible with understanding of what they have read.
• To encourage a love of literature and an enjoyment of reading for pleasure.

WRITING

We intend:

• To use the writing process to in order to enable our pupils to write for a range of different purposes and audiences using appropriate structures and features from a range of genres.
• For our pupils to acquire the ability to organise and plan their written work
• That our children learn to write as clearly, accurately and coherently as possible and are able to spell new words
• For our pupils to develop a handwriting style as neat, consistent and legible as possible
• To use technology and media when appropriate to support and enhance learning, but not as a replacement to preserve the rich tradition of the subject
• For our pupils to know and do their best to apply the key technicalities of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Implementation

SPEAKING & LISTENING

We aim to give our children confidence in themselves as speakers by showing them that we value their conversations and opinions. We also encourage a respect for the views of others. We are aware that as adults, we provide a model of speakers and listeners in our day-to-day interactions with them and with other adults in our school. We help them to articulate their ideas and provide purposes and audiences for talk within a range of formal and informal situations, in individual, partner, group and class contexts. We provide opportunities to perform to a larger audience, in assemblies and productions, where children’s efforts and skills are acknowledged by staff, parents, carers, visitors and peers. We provide a range of experiences where children can work collaboratively and participate in opportunities to reflect on talk and explore real and imagined situations through role play, hotseating, drama and discussions. We develop the children’s ability to listen with attention and understanding in all areas of the curriculum and where necessary, asking and responding to questions appropriately.

READING

For our younger children, we use a systematic synthetic phonics programme called Bug Club Phonics, with children reading decodable books that match their phonics learning level. Children read regularly and individually with a trained adult and we expect parents to read regularly at home with their children. Early reading workshops support parents in knowing how best to support their young reader and weekly in class reading workshops for parents allow that support to continue throughout the early reading journey.

We pride ourselves on our culture of reading for pleasure across the school: teachers read to their class daily, engaging children through modelling effective story-telling techniques including intonation and pace. Each class has a dedicated reading corner and children have access to a wide variety of books both physically and digitally. We have links with local libraries and book shops, our ‘Eagle Reader’ termly competition, visits from local authors and book events to inspire. The principal leads the love of reading with his weekly ‘Head Read’ and a team of Reading Ambassadors support reading in School. Peer reading is timetabled weekly and is undoubtedly a highlight of the week.

Children are given opportunities to explore different text types, across all year groups, therefore systematically exposed to a variety of genres. Children are taught to understand text variety and recognise their purpose and organisation with opportunities to develop reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary extension.

Through our sustained approach, children become inquisitive about language and its structure and actively read for meaning. They also develop widening knowledge and use this to make connections between subjects and aspects of learning. As a result of this, children develop an enquiring mind, which leads to children’s enhanced creativity.

WRITING

Our pupils write for a range of purposes (and across the various school subjects) from an early age. Every piece of writing has a clear purpose, audience and type, and this allows pupils to develop into confident and skilled writers. We use shared and guided writing to model writing skills, so the children have clear writing expectations. We teach children how to compose, amend and revise their writing. We teach our children to become critical readers of their own and others writing by using self and peer-evaluation to check work independently for sense, accuracy and meaning.

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar is carefully taught through the children’s own writing and through discrete sequenced lessons to allow pupils to build a strong understanding of the technical aspects of writing, so that they can apply these with confidence.

We encourage our children to take pride in the presentation of their writing, through weekly discrete and sequenced handwriting lessons, we teach the development a consistent and neat, joined, handwriting style.

Impact

SPEAKING & LISTENING

In a safe and encouraging environment, children develop into effective communicators and considerate listeners. They explain with clarity and confidence and listen with kindness and empathy. Children and staff recognise that speaking and listening lies at the heart of conveying character and that doing this effectively allows misunderstandings to be addressed and relationships to be enhanced.

READING

Pupils will develop detailed knowledge and skills as they progress through our English curriculum. They will develop a receptive and expressive vocabulary, and they will learn to read as fluently as possible, with a reading style that supports their comprehension. They will have gained considerable capacity to predict, question, clarify, summarise, infer and activate prior knowledge. They will want to read for pleasure and enjoyment and be immersed in reading. 

WRITING 

The children will become increasingly independent and responsible for selecting and using writing strategies: planning, drafting, sharing, evaluating and editing. Their transcription skills will become increasingly automatic for pupils to focus on writing composition, and they will be ready for the next stage in their learning.

Support

SPEAKING & LISTENING

Children need lots of opportunities to talk with others as they develop and practise their speaking and listening skills. This helps to build their confidence and improves their ability to communicate with other people. This is a really important aspect of learning to socialise and will help your child feel confident making relationships.

Everyday activities such as preparing meals, tidying up, putting shopping away and getting ready to go out, offer you chances to talk to your child, explaining what you are doing. They hear the way language is put together into sentences for a purpose.

Books are a rich source of new words for your child – words you would not use in everyday conversations appear in books. Children need to have a wide stock of words (vocabulary) to understand the meaning of books, so read aloud and share books as often as you can. They will enjoy it and it will be useful to them when they come across these words in their own reading later on.

Make time to listen to your child talking – as you meet them from school, as you walk, or travel home by car, in the supermarket as you shop at meal times, bath times, bedtimes – any time! Switch off the TV, radio, and mobile phones – and really listen! Show that you are interested in what they are talking about – look at your child, smile, nod your head, ask a question, or make a response to show that you really have been listening. Use puppets and toys to make up stories or retell known ones. Record your child telling the story and play it back to them.

READING:

Research proves that children who enjoy reading do better at school in all subjects. Below are some ideas to support your child’s engagement in reading. For support on early reading or our decodable Bug Club Phonics books, please see our Phonics information page.

• Encourage your child to read: Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too. Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages.
• Read aloud regularly – Try to read to your child every day. It’s a special time to snuggle up and enjoy a story. Stories matter and children love re-reading them and poring over the pictures. Try adding funny voices to bring characters to life
• Encourage reading choice – Give children lots of opportunities to read different things in their own time – it doesn’t just have to be books. There’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, magazines, recipes and much more. Try leaving interesting reading material in different places around the home and see who picks it up.
• Make use of your local library – Local libraries also offer brilliant online materials, including audiobooks and ebooks to borrow.
• Talk about books – This is a great way to make connections, develop understanding and make reading even more enjoyable. Start by discussing the front cover and talking about what it reveals and suggests the book could be about. Then talk about what you’ve been reading and share ideas. You could discuss something that happened that surprised you, or something new that you found out. You could talk about how the book makes you feel and whether it reminds you of anything.
• Bring reading to life – You could try cooking a recipe you’ve read together. Would you recommend it to a friend? Alternatively, play a game where you pretend to be the characters in a book, or discuss an interesting article you’ve read.
• Make reading active – Play games that involve making connections between pictures, objects and words, such as reading about an object and finding similar things in your home. You could organise treasure hunts related to what you’re reading. Try creating your child’s very own book by using photos from your day and adding captions.
• Engage your child in reading in a way that suits them – You know your child best and you’ll know the best times for your child to read. If they have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) then short, creative activities may be the way to get them most interested. If English is an additional language, encourage reading in a child’s first language, as well as in English. What matters most is that they enjoy it.

WRITING:

Early writing activities:

• Encourage children to look for print in their environment – road signs, food packets, shops, catalogues etc
• Try activities to develop fine motor skills e.g. cutting, using playdough, using tweezers, using clothes pegs, tracing
• Encourage your child to hold the pencil in the ‘tripod’ grip between the thumb and first two fingers
• Use a chalkboard to write family messages on
• Make labels for things around the house
• Write a shopping list – real or imaginary! Or any other sort of list
• Letter formation – practise forming letters using paint, in sand, using playdough or pastry
• Let your child write their own Christmas cards or birthday cards to people
• Use magnetic letters – your child can leave a message on the fridge
• Encourage and praise early squiggles and marks which show your child is beginning to understand writing.

Improving Writers:

• Write party invitations
• Encourage children to write thank you letters after birthdays and Christmas
• Write postcards when on holiday
• Write a menu for a family meal or party
• Email a family member or friend
• Make a scrap book with labels and captions – maybe after a holiday or special event
• Write short stories involving the adventures of their favourite toys
• Write an information leaflet about something they find interesting eg. dinosaurs, sports etc
• Write a letter to a favourite author
• Invent and write rules for the house, bedroom etc. and put on a poster
• Draw, label and explain their own inventions. Make up silly sentences and tongue twisters.

More confident writers:

• Write a diary
• Make up song lyrics
• Plan their own party
• Write a story for a younger family member, in the style of their favourite book
• Write a holiday journal
• Write instructions for an X-box game, Minecraft or similar
• Write a recipe
• Write instructions for a more mature member of the family (eg . grandparent) for a piece of modern technology they can’t get to grips with!
• Channel their passions – RSPCA, WWF, ActionAid etc. all have ideas for getting children involved in raising awareness of campaigns
• Write to the local newspaper about a local issue they feel strongly about or even to the local MP
• Talk to different generations of family about their life and compile a family history
• Make up jokes
• Look out for writing competitions eg. Radio 2’s annual 500 Word Competition. (A prize is always an incentive to write!)

It’s also an incentive to write if there is a range of exciting writing materials available – pencils, crayons, felt tips, sparkly pens, writing icings, writing soaps for bathtime, coloured papers, different shape and sizes of paper etc. Most of these things are available quite cheaply these days in places like Poundland. Try to remember to focus on and praise the content of any writing your child shares with you, rather than dwelling on any mistakes they may have made. Hopefully the variety of activities listed here have provided you with plenty of ideas to help and encourage your child to have a go at doing some writing at home.