English Curriculum

Intent

We aim that our children will learn to read as early as possible to open the world of books, and the knowledge and understanding of the world that this brings. We aim for all children to develop the skills to be able to read and comprehend a range of texts for enjoyment and to develop their knowledge of the world.   

We aim for children to be able to write at length for a range of purposes and with confidence. For children to be able to apply their knowledge of grammatical structures and spelling patterns, and to write in a neat, legible style. 

We aim for children to build a wide vocabulary to through the texts that they read and listen to. We aim for children to use a wide vocabulary, both in their spoken and written word, to feel confident and knowledgable when speaking and writing to others.  

Implementation - How is the curriculum being delivered?

Reading

At Norwood, we expect every child to read at least five times per week. We have found that this approach allows children to practise the skills of reading regularly and those that read at home are more successful in their reading in school. 

We aim that every child will be able to read at least 90 words per minute in Key Stage 1 and 110 words per minute in Key Stage 2. Research shows that the more fluent a child reads, the greater their chance of comprehending the text to learn. In order to support children with this skill, we have a number of reading buddies who give up their time to listen to children read and implement the paired or repeated reading approach.

http://www.readingrockets.org/content/pdfs/pairedreading.pdf (see pages 4-5)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q2mvF_6K6M (clip of repeated reading in action)

Learning to read

The Read Write Inc phonics programme embeds children’s understanding of phonics, and ensures that children learn how to use sounds to read and spell phonetically, building spelling patterns through Key Stage 1 and 2. Through this programme, we ensure that the vast majority of children are able to read by the end of Year 1 which is matched through our phonics pass rate.

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

Reception:

Read Write Inc Phonics begins in Reception, and through this children are taught, at their own pace, to read the alphabet letter sounds. They begin to blend sounds together to ‘Fred talk’ words, and begin to read small words, ‘tricky’ red words such as ‘said’ and captions.

Children are taught how to form each letter sound correctly, and begin to use these letters and sounds when writing independently, supported by continuous provision both indoors and outdoors.

Year 1:

Read Write Inc Phonics continues to be taught in small groups in Year 1, until children are reading fluently (at least 90 words per minute). It is our aim that most children will have completed Read Write Inc Phonics by the end of the Autumn Term of Year 2.

Learning to read games: 

Click here to play SIGHTIES: Practice common words and learn to read them quickly to help with fluency

Click here to play MINI GAMES: A range of games to support you child at their reading level. Practise recognising sounds, practise Fred Talk (sounding out) and Fred fingers (Spelling using sounds).

Reading to learn

Across all year groups, we teach inference skills through 8 strategies.

The 8 strategies are:

• Activate background knowledge
• Predict and ask questions
• Visualise
• Think like a detective
• Notice breakdown...
• ...and repair it
• VIP words/ phrases/ ideas
• Build gist

These strategies are taught explicitly and children practise applying each in isolation. In Reception and Key Stage 1, the strategies are taught through discussion using carefully chosen texts. Pupils verbalise their thinking and have lots of opportunities to talk about their ideas. 

In Key Stage 2, these verbal skills progress to written annotation whilst reading to show a reader's thoughts.  This encourages children to make sense of what they read as they read the text for the first time. 

Vocabulary is vital to comprehending information. In Key Stage 2, we use an online programme called Bedrock. This online learning tool exposes children to 12 new words in 5 different contexts within each lesson. Children are required to complete two lessons of Bedrock in school per week as a minimum, and have home access to the programme to complete further lessons. We appreciate that not all children have access to devices that access the Internet. With discussion with parents/carers, we are able to provide a Kindle on loan for pupils who require it. 

https://portal.bedrocklearning.org/ 

Writing

Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation are important elements of learning to read and write, and every year group at Norwood receives explicit teaching of these skills, as well as applying these skills through their written work in all subject areas.

Norwood is committed to ensuring that all children are able to express their ideas in written form. We teach children to use a cursive writing script which supports children to correctly form each letter from the moment children begin to learn their sounds and to join their letters from Year 2 onwards. We teach letter formation through the programme Letter Join which can be accessed from home. Our home/school access has been set up to use our selected choice of letter formation. Log in details are provided for each child as they join Norwood.

https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/

The Talk for Writing approach is new to Norwood. The intention is that through learning a model text orally, the children will have a headstart to writing their own text whether that be a story or non-fiction piece. 

As we build our curriculum towards the Talk for Writing approach, the children will experience poetry, fiction and non-fiction every term. This will be surrounded by high quality texts from great authors to inspire their own writing within each genre. 

Spelling

All children at Norwood have access to the Sir Linkalot app both at home and in school. Children learn spellings, that do not follow phonetic patterns, through short videos. The videos provide children with memorable links to support their knowledge of spellings that cannot be taught through phonics. Children access the videos in school but are welcome to do more at home! We were lucky to have Sir Linkalot teach one of our children to show us why the app works so well. 

Watch Sir Linkalot and Izzy learning new spellings here

Library

Our Library is abundant with fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. Children have opportunities throughout the week to select a book that interests them. Children who are learning to read will select a book that interests them to share with adults at home. Children who are reading fluently, will choose a book from the library to enjoy and develop their reading skills.

Children access the library once a week to explore the various books and learn about how a library works. We also value children listening to books being read to them and so during the week children listen to a class text. 

To support children to choose a variety of books in the library, displays are set up to share themes, authors or recommendations from children and adults. Children are exposed to books that have been shortlisted for national and global awards and engage with the voting process to extend their awareness of different types of book and develop enjoyment of reading.

Impact - What difference is the curriculum making?

Through this approach to literacy teaching, children gain the following key skills in reading, writing and the spoken language:

• An understanding that reading gains meaning and understanding.
• An instilled love of reading for pleasure and information.
• An appreciation for our literary heritage, experiencing texts written by a wide range of poets and authors.
• A wide and rich vocabulary that allows expression of ideas and feelings.
• The ability to explore and elaborate on ideas
• A confidence to write for a range of purposes, and at length
• The ability to write neatly and legibly for the purpose required
• The ability to write using grammatical structures and applying spelling rules accurately
• Confident speakers who are able to speak with clarity, using a wide vocabulary.