English

English at Minet Junior School

Intent

At Minet Junior School we believe that the ability to write is a life – long skill which is fundamental to our pupils’ success. Our curriculum has been developed to foster a passion and enthusiasm for writing for a variety of audiences and purposes. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing and can adapt their language and style for a range of contexts.

Our intent is to enable children to:

• Write clearly, accurately and coherently whilst taking pride in the work that they produce.
• Acquire a wide vocabulary to use creatively and appropriately.
• Confidently use the essential skills of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
• Enable pupils to express themselves confidently and to articulate their understanding and ideas clearly.
• Re-read, edit and improve their own writing.
• Develop a neat, cursive handwriting style.

Implementation

English lessons are taught daily across the school and to the whole class, therefore allowing all children to have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum.

As a school, our English curriculum is supported by both ‘The Power of Reading’ strategy (CLPE) and ‘The Write Stuff’ by Jane Considine. Key texts have been carefully selected for all year groups to be representative of the pupils, challenging and in line with the long- term cross - curricular map throughout the school. Each year group have a yearly overview of the writing topics, both narrative and non-fiction. These have been planned to ensure correct coverage of the key genres as well as build on skills from year to year. The outcome of each unit will be an Independent Write which will be used to assess the pupil’s skills against the Key Performance Indicators for their year.

Each year group studies two high-quality texts every half term which offers children engaging and challenging English lessons. Within each unit of work, children are given opportunities to participate in drama, spoken language activities and writing for a variety of purposes. Opportunities are planned for children to use knowledge from other subjects within their English writing and vice versa.

At Minet Junior School progressive writing skills and techniques are taught using a highly structured approach, which are supported by unit plans from ‘The Write Stuff’ – J. Considine. By using high – quality texts, children engage in meaningful discussions, learn key vocabulary, understand grammar and punctuation skills and are inspired to write  creatively.

 The key aspects of The Write Stuff include:

• The Write Stuff builds pupils’ confidence with sentence structure.
• Pupils vocabulary is widened and extended.
• The approach widens the repertoire of writing options for pupils.
• Pupils gain an understanding of the ‘whole’ piece that they are writing.
• Organisation of their ideas and cohesion between them is strengthened.

Our English Curriculum provides a structured approach to spelling using the ‘Andrew Brodie’ guidance. This approach is used to aid spelling by teaching children a range of techniques, allowing them to learn about word origins and to identify spelling rules. Children are encouraged to apply their phonetic knowledge to learn new words. Pupils are taught the statutory spelling words from the National Curriculum in the context of their learning.

We pride ourselves at Minet Junior School with the high expectations we have of the children in handwriting and presentation. Children learn correct letter formation and a joined cursive script.Teachers reinforce the school’s handwriting style when marking children’s work, writing on the board and on displays around the school.

Impact

• By the time children leave Minet Junior School they will:
• be able to produce written work in all areas of the curriculum to a high standard
• be confident to write for a range of different purposes
• be confident in the art of speaking and listening and to be able to use discussion to communicate and further their learning
• enjoy writing across a range of genres
• have a wide vocabulary and be adventurous with vocabulary choices within their writing
• have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
• leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught
• make good and better progress from their starting points to achieve their full potential