English

We value the content and presentation of writing in all subjects at Oxclose and believe our pupils should be given opportunities to develop, edit and improve. We provide our pupils with a wide range of genres such as poetry, narrative, persuasive texts and reports to encourage children to develop their own natural style of writing.

It is our intention when teaching the English curriculum that our pupils acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to become lifelong learners. It is our intention that pupils learn to understand the relationships between words, word meaning, implied meaning and figurative language within writing lessons, whilst ensuring that they are supported in their spelling strategies. We intend that pupils are taught to control their speaking and writing consciously and to use correct Standard English through a vocabulary rich learning environment.

Writing is part of our English curriculum and is one of the core subjects taught in school. Each year group has a Long Term Plan which follows the outcomes of the National Curriculum.

Our writing lessons are planned around a sequence of high quality age-appropriate texts and video clips. We use each book and clip to create opportunities to develop reading fluency and comprehension with a focus on key reading strategies and skills; develop grammar and punctuation knowledge and understanding to use and apply across the wider curriculum; explore the writing structure and features of different genres, identify the purpose and audience; plan and write an initial piece of writing with a clear context and purpose before evaluating the effectiveness of writing by editing and redrafting.

Early writing begins in our Reception class where children are provided with multiple opportunities to write through continuous provision and are lead in letter formation during daily phonics sessions with Essential Letters and Sounds.

Writing continues to develop in Key Stage 1 where children are exposed to a variety of genres and texts. Each year group has their own high quality key texts to use as a focus for writing with grammar lessons taught in context, weekly linking to the text or video clip.

At Oxclose, we believe that writing is strengthened by instilling a love for reading within our pupils. We value the importance of reading to supplement writing, providing a purpose and a context to writing. We believe that pupils who are provided a reason for writing demonstrate flair and effective writing composition, leading to high quality outcomes. Our school follows the Berol handwriting scheme, which teaches early letter joins and cursive letter formative from Year 2 to Year 6.

Pupils will learn through the book-led approach and develop to produce written work in all areas of the curriculum of a similar standard which evidence good progress from their last point of statutory assessment point or their starting point in Reception.

Pupils will be able to transfer skills with ease and show a good knowledge and understanding of spelling strategies. To assess and monitor progress across school, the senior leadership team will complete learning walks, carry out scutinies of work and planning across the year to ensure appropriate progress.

At Oxclose Primary Academy we value reading in all subjects and believe our pupils should be given opportunities to develop their reading skills through a wide range of high quality texts and genres. Throughout their time in our school we want pupils to develop a love for reading alongside an opportunity to develop skills such as inference, prediction and retrieval. We feel that it is extremely important for our pupils to learn in a vocabulary rich environment and we aim to embed this in our Reception class, continuing through Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

It is our aim to equip all of our children with the skills they need to be able to read a variety of texts, which will in turn enable them to access wider opportunities in life.

Reading is part of our English curriculum and is one of the core subjects in school. Our Long Term Plan follows the National Curriculum and incorporates all aspects of reading, including fluency and confidence.

Reading starts as soon as our children join us in EYFS where they have daily phonics sessions, are read with individually throughout the week and have a wide range of opportunities to read during continuous provision.

In Year 1, our children have daily reading sessions where they either read to an adult or complete focussed phonics activities in small groups. In Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4, we have daily reading sessions where a small group of children read with an adult following a reciprocal reading approach, while the remainder of the class either read independently or complete focussed phonics tasks. In Year 5 and Year 6 our children take part in whole class reciprocal reading sessions daily under the guidance of their class teacher.

As well as our daily reading sessions, children are encouraged to read for enjoyment in our class book nooks and our school library throughout the week. Every year group has a class novel to be shared each term, these texts can be used to enhance teaching in English and/or History but are also used for the enjoyment of sharing a text as a class.

Reading comprehension skills are taught fortnightly in English lessons in Year 2 to Year 6 where children are encouraged to answer questions from a key text; a range of question stems are used to support children’s understanding of language and what the question is asking them to do.

Assessment notes are recorded in the class Reading File which is then used to make a judgement on each child’s reading ability linking directing to our Long Term Plans and the National Curriculum. Pupils from Year 2 to Year 6 will complete assessment tasks at the end of each term to inform further teaching and learning.

Pupils will be able to read confidently and fluently in all lessons, demonstrating an understanding of what they have read. Pupils in Key Stage 1 will be able to use their phonic knowledge to segment, blend and decode unfamiliar words to aid their reading progress. Pupils will be able to transfer skills learned in reading sessions to all aspects of their learning and access a wide range of opportunities.

To assess and monitor progress across school, SLT will complete learning walks, carry out pupil voice activities and monitor data across year groups.