Burlish Park Primary School

 English

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

At Burlish Park Primary school it is our intent to develop confident and enthusiastic readers, writers and communicators, helping them to build the knowledge, vocabulary and skills they need to express themselves clearly and creatively. Children will develop strong phonic knowledge and the skills to decode and blend confidently, enabling them to become successful readers. They will develop fluency and demonstrate secure comprehension skills.

Children will develop a love of reading and appreciate the enjoyment, imagination and knowledge that books can provide. Our school library will be a vibrant hub of activity, offering a wide range of high-quality resources to inspire and support children as readers. Classrooms will provide a carefully selected range of quality books, enabling children to read for pleasure and develop their independence as readers.

Burlish Park Primary will teach children the spelling, grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills they need to communicate effectively through writing for a range of audiences and purposes.

Implementation

At Burlish Park Primary, a range of high-quality texts are used as models for children’s learning in English. Carefully sequenced lessons ensure progression of skills and lead to a final learning outcome. The sequences are mapped across the whole school year to ensure coverage of all National Curriculum objectives.

Reading

Phonics in both Early Years and Key Stage 1 consists of daily sessions following the Read Write Inc Phonics programme. A scheme focusing on grapheme-phoneme correspondence and the recognition and reading of sounds.  Children are regularly assessed and grouped according to attainment, enabling them to work in a group that best matches their developing phonics knowledge.

Phonics interventions are implemented promptly to address gaps in knowledge and understanding, with targeted support provided for children who are working below the expected standard.

Children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 are given reading books to take home and provided with access to online digital storybooks that are closely matched to their phonic knowledge and the learning taking place within phonics sessions.

In Key Stage 2, the Accelerated Reader programme is used to assess children’s comprehension and vocabulary skills and to monitor the development of their reading skills over time.

How AR  works at Burlish Park Primary

Each half-term the children will complete a STAR reading test. This is a diagnostic test which assigns the children a reading level. Children will then read a book closely matched to their reading ability. Once they have finished the book, they will complete an online quiz, which will give them immediate feedback.

At Burlish Park Primary we want children to foster a love of reading, and we also encourage children to read at home. 

Writing

We teach writing skills so that children develop the knowledge, skills and stamina needed to write at the expected standard.

We encourage children to see themselves as authors and provide varied and engaging opportunities to write for different purposes and audiences. These opportunities are linked to the high-quality texts used in our whole-class English lessons.

Reception children are taught to spell as part of their phonics lessons. Children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 have weekly spelling lessons following the Spelling Shed programme, ensuring full coverage of the National Curriculum objectives.

Letter formation is taught as an integral part of phonics lessons in Reception. Children are taught to write letters as they learn to read them. They then follow the Nelson Handwriting scheme throughout Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

High standards in the application of English skills across the wider curriculum are expected. Teachers provide regular opportunities for children to apply and develop the knowledge and skills they have learned in English across other subjects.

Impact

Children at Burlish Park Primary will have a love of reading and writing, becoming readers and authors of the future. The will appreciate the wide and varied magical worlds that reading opens up to them. As they develop their own interest in books, a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles will be enhanced. They will have all the required skills for their age in both reading and writing enabling them to participate fully in the curriculum.